Arizona woman indicted for role in alleged North Korea scheme: DOJ
(U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Gustavo Castillo/Released)
PHOENIX - Officials with the U.S. Justice Department say they are prosecuting five people, including a woman from Arizona, for their alleged role in a North Korean scheme "to place overseas information technology (IT) workers—posing as U.S. citizens and residents—in remote positions at U.S. companies."
"As alleged in the court documents, DPRK has dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers around the world, who used stolen or borrowed U.S. persons’ identities to pose as domestic workers, infiltrate domestic companies’ networks, and raise revenue for North Korea," a statement released on May 16 reads. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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The Arizonan who is being prosecuted has been identified as 49-year-old Christina Marie Chapman of Litchfield Park. She was arrested on Wednesday. Four other people were also indicted, including 27-year-old Oleksandr Didenko of Kyiv, Ukraine, and three John Does who were identified by their aliases: Jiho Han, Haoran Xu, and Chunji Jin. The three were named as Chapman's co-conspirators.
"Chapman and her co-conspirators’ scheme defrauded U.S. companies across myriad industries, including multiple well-known Fortune 500 companies, U.S. banks, and other financial service providers. The identities of more than 60 U.S. persons were compromised and used by IT workers related to Chapman’s cell," the statement reads. "Chapman also allegedly conspired with the John Doe defendants to commit money laundering by conducting financial transactions under aliases to receive money generated by the scheme and transfer those funds outside of the United States, in an attempt to hide that these were proceeds of the IT workers’ fraud."
Chapman, authorities say, is accused of committing multiple offenses, including various fraud and identity theft-related offenses. If convicted, she faces up to 97.5 years in prison.