US sanctions bankers accused of laundering cybercrime money to pay for North Korea’s nuclear weapons
The US on Tuesday sanctioned a group of bankers and financial institutions it accused of laundering money from cybercrime schemes to help pay for North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control alleged that North Korean malware and social engineering schemes had diverted more than $3 billion, mostly in digital assets, over the past three years, an amount unmatched by any other foreign actor.
“North Korean state-sponsored hackers steal and launder money to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons programme,” under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence John K Hurley said in a statement.
The department alleged that Pyongyang relied on a network of banking representatives, financial institutions and shell companies in North Korea, China, Russia, and elsewhere to launder funds gained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency heist, and sanctions evasion.
The department had warned US companies in 2022 against hiring highly skilled North Koreans who obfuscated their identities to get access to financial networks by posing as remote IT workers.
The new measures were directed at eight people and two companies, including North Korean bankers Jang Kuk Chol and Ho Jong Son, who Washington accused of helping manage funds, including $5.3 million in cryptocurrency, on behalf of sanctioned First Credit Bank.
