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3d ago

Justice Department Files Civil Forfeiture to Seize $7.74 Million Laundered for North Korean Government

The June complaint alleges Pyongyang-employed IT operatives used stolen identities with complex cryptocurrency tactics to funnel illicit earnings through intermediaries back to North Korea

The Justice Department wants to confiscate $7.7 million of crypto linked to an alleged North Korean agent.
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Overview

  • The suit was filed on June 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to confiscate assets tied to an April 2023 indictment of Foreign Trade Bank agent Sim Hyon Sop.
  • Authorities allege North Korean IT workers secured remote jobs at U.S. and foreign companies using fraudulent IDs and were compensated in stablecoins such as USDC and USDT.
  • The laundered cryptocurrency was obscured through small-value transfers, cross-chain swaps, token conversions, NFT purchases and co-mingling of funds.
  • Funds were routed via Sim Hyon Sop and Kim Sang Man’s Chinyong (Jinyong IT Cooperation Company), a Ministry of Defense-linked entity.
  • The action builds on FBI advisories issued since May 2022 and supports the DOJ’s RevGen initiative to disrupt North Korea’s sanction-evasion revenue schemes.