The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has confiscated $7.74 million worth of cryptocurrency related to North Korea's fake IT worker scheme, which was previously disclosed to have compromised most Fortune 500 companies, CyberScoop reports.
Such illicit funds have been associated with North Korean Foreign Trade Bank representative Sim Hyon Sop and Chinyong CEO Kim Sang Man, both of whom have been sanctioned by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control two years ago, according to the Justice Department. Chinyong was accused of having operated various North Korean IT worker groups worldwide, with Kim serving as an intermediary to the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank to facilitate money laundering. "Today's multimillion-dollar forfeiture action reflects the Department's strategic focus on disrupting these illicit revenue schemes. We will continue to use every legal tool available to cut off the financial lifelines that sustain the DPRK and its destabilizing agenda," said Justice Department National Security Division Head Sue J. Bai.
Such illicit funds have been associated with North Korean Foreign Trade Bank representative Sim Hyon Sop and Chinyong CEO Kim Sang Man, both of whom have been sanctioned by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control two years ago, according to the Justice Department. Chinyong was accused of having operated various North Korean IT worker groups worldwide, with Kim serving as an intermediary to the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank to facilitate money laundering. "Today's multimillion-dollar forfeiture action reflects the Department's strategic focus on disrupting these illicit revenue schemes. We will continue to use every legal tool available to cut off the financial lifelines that sustain the DPRK and its destabilizing agenda," said Justice Department National Security Division Head Sue J. Bai.
