US Citizens Plead Guilty to Aiding North Korean IT Worker Campaigns

The DOJ announced guilty pleas from five individuals who facilitated North Korea-linked fake IT worker schemes—providing stolen or fraudulent identities, hosting employer-owned laptops, and installing remote access to allow overseas DPRK-aligned operators (including APT38/Lazarus) to infiltrate US companies, steal intellectual property, and launder cryptocurrency; authorities also filed civil forfeiture complaints for over $15 million in USDT tied to APT38 thefts and urged stronger vetting and device-control practices to detect and mitigate such campaigns.