A federal court in St. Louis has indicted 14 North Koreans in connection with a long-running conspiracy to extort money from U.S. companies and funnel the money to Pyongyang’s weapons programs.
The broader scheme allegedly involved thousands of North Korean IT workers who used false identities stolen and borrowed from people in the United States and other countries to be employed by U.S. companies and work remotely.
The indictment alleges that the defendants and others who collaborated with them made at least $88 million (£51.5 million) for the North Korean regime over six years.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to BBC News’ request for comment.
Prosecutors said the suspects worked for two North Korean-controlled companies – China’s Yanbian Silver Star and Russia’s Volasis Silver Star.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, they are among 130 North Korean IT workers employed by the two companies and are known within the companies as “IT warriors.”
The suspect was allegedly ordered to demand a monthly salary of US$10,000 from his US employer.
In addition to their monthly wages, they raise funds for the North Korean regime by stealing valuable company information and threatening to leak it unless their employers pay extortion fees.
The group currently faces charges of wire fraud, money laundering, identity theft and other charges.
In addition to using stolen identities to avoid detection, prosecutors said they paid people living in the United States to receive, set up and host laptops provided by U.S. employers.
They would then instruct these U.S. residents to install remote access software that would make them appear to be working in the U.S., but actually be overseas.
Investigators believe the suspects are in North Korea, making it unlikely they will receive justice.
Still, the U.S. State Department announced it would offer a reward of up to $5 million to anyone who could provide more information about the suspects, Yanbian and Volasys.
U.S. officials have not yet named the U.S. companies targeted by the program.
“While we have dismantled this organization and identified its leadership, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ashley T. Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in St. Louis.
“The North Korean government has trained and deployed thousands of IT workers to implement the same program against American companies every day.”
