Overview

• U.S. authorities arrested New Jersey native Zhenxing “Danny” Wang and indicted Kejia Wang alongside six Chinese nationals, two Taiwanese citizens and five North Koreans in connection with the remote IT worker scheme.
• Federal agents executed multi-state raids on more than two dozen laptop farms, seizing over 200 computers, web domains and financial accounts used to obscure worker identities and launder salaries.
• From 2021 to 2024, operatives stole the identities of more than 80 Americans to infiltrate over 100 U.S. companies, generating upwards of $5 million for Pyongyang and causing $3 million in corporate losses.
• Prosecutors contend the network also diverted at least $900,000 in cryptocurrency and accessed sensitive ITAR-controlled data from an AI-focused defense contractor.
• The DOJ’s action follows years of similar prosecutions targeting North Korea’s sanctions-evasion tactics and underscores ongoing risks from remote-worker infiltration.