Overview
- Federal prosecutors said Matthew Isaac Knoot of Tennessee and Erick Ntekereze Prince of New York were each sentenced to 18 months in prison for hosting company laptops used by North Korean IT workers to pose as U.S.-based staff.
- 'Laptop farms' involve company devices shipped to U.S. addresses where hosts install remote desktop tools so overseas operators can log in under stolen or forged identities and pass payroll and security checks.
- The Justice Department said the two schemes generated more than $1.2 million for North Korea and touched nearly 70 U.S. companies, and it cast the sentences as part of an effort to protect corporate networks and national security.
- Knoot’s Nashville operation ran from July 2022 to August 2023 using a stolen identity to receive laptops, led to more than $250,000 in pay to the workers, triggered over $500,000 in victim remediation costs, and resulted in $15,100 in restitution and forfeiture.
- Prince used his company Taggcar Inc. from June 2020 to August 2024 to place at least three workers, with more than $943,000 in salaries routed overseas, over $1 million in remediation costs at victim firms, and an $89,000 forfeiture order; the pair are the seventh and eighth U.S.-based facilitators sentenced this year.