A U.S. citizen has been charged with helping North Korean actors obtain remote IT work, and laundering their salaries to finance the country's weapons program.
According to a release from the Department of Justice, Matthew Isaac Knoot of Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested on Thursday for his efforts to "generate revenue for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's illicit weapons program, which includes weapons of mass destruction."
Knoot, 38, allegedly helped North Korean citizens use stolen identities to pose as U.S. citizens, allowing them to obtain employment with American and British companies as freelance IT workers.
Between July 2022 and August 2023, the DOJ said that Knoot operated a "laptop farm" out of his Nashville residence. Using unauthorized software installed on computers sent to Knoot by the victim companies, North Korean actors were then able to pose as Tennessee residents while working from locations in China.
These overseas workers were each paid over $250,000 for their work during this time, according to the release, which Knoot then helped transfer to non-U. S. accounts "associated with North Korean and Chinese actors."
Newsweek has contacted the North Korean embassy in London to inquire about the case.
"As alleged, this defendant facilitated a scheme to deceive U.S. companies into hiring foreign remote IT workers who were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in income funneled to the DPRK for its weapons program," according to Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DOJ's National Security Division.
"This indictment should serve as a stark warning to U.S. businesses that employ remote IT workers of the growing threat from the DPRK and the need to be vigilant in their hiring processes."
According to a 2022 joint advisory from the FBI, DOJ and the Department of State, North Korea dispatches "thousands" of IT workers around the world, who can earn up to $300,000 per year.
"The North Korean government withholds up to 90 percent of wages of overseas workers which generates an annual revenue to the government of hundreds of millions of dollars," the advisory read, adding that these funds "support DPRK regime priorities, including its WMD program."
Knoot's actions reportedly caused these companies over $500,000 in costs, and he now faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted on the charges, which include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to cause the unlawful employment of aliens. He has not yet entered a plea.
Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, said: "Where illicit proceeds may be used to fund the regime's kinetic capacity, we will prioritize our work to disrupt that flow of money. This indictment should demonstrate the risk faced by those who support the DPRK's malicious cyber activity."
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