Overview
- Four U.S. nationals — Audricus Phagnasay, Jason Salazar, Alexander Paul Travis, and Erick Ntekereze Prince — pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in cases filed in Georgia and Florida.
- Ukrainian national Oleksandr Didenko pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C., to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, agreed to forfeit about $1.4 million, was extradited from Poland, and is set for sentencing on Feb. 19, 2026.
- Facilitators provided stolen or borrowed U.S. identities, hosted company laptops in U.S. homes, installed remote-access software, and in some instances took employer drug tests to disguise overseas workers’ locations.
- The schemes touched roughly 136 U.S. companies, compromised at least 18 U.S. identities, and generated more than $2.2 million for the DPRK.
- DOJ filed civil forfeiture actions for over $15 million in cryptocurrency traced to APT38’s 2023 hacks of platforms in Panama, Estonia, and Seychelles, and the FBI urged stronger vetting of remote hires.