Four North Koreans Indicted for $900K Crypto Theft and Laundering
Four North Korean nationals have been indicted in a five-count federal case involving wire fraud and money laundering tied to a scheme to infiltrate U.S. companies as remote IT workers and steal over $900,000 in virtual currency.
The indictment, unsealed in the Northern District of Georgia on June 24, 2025, charges Kim Kwang Jin (김관진), Kang Tae Bok (강태복), Jong Pong Ju (정봉주), and Chang Nam Il (창남일) with conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to court documents, the defendants used fake and stolen identities to pose as IT developers for U.S. and foreign blockchain-related firms. In October 2019, the group traveled to the United Arab Emirates using North Korean documentation and began working as a coordinated team.
Kim Kwang Jin and Jong Pong Ju were later hired by an Atlanta-based blockchain research company and a Serbian virtual token company, respectively. The two concealed their true nationalities by using fraudulent identity documents and aliases, including “Bryan Cho” and the stolen identity of a U.S. victim, P.S. Based on a recommendation from Jong Pong Ju, the Serbian company also hired “Peter Xiao,” who was actually Chang Nam Il.
In February 2022, Jong Pong Ju allegedly stole approximately $175,000 in cryptocurrency from his employer. The following month, Kim Kwang Jin is accused of stealing approximately $740,000 by altering the source code of smart contracts belonging to his employer.
The stolen funds were laundered through a virtual currency mixer and transferred to exchange accounts controlled by Kang Tae Bok and Chang Nam Il. These accounts were opened under aliases using fraudulent Malaysian identification documents.
The scheme is part of a broader effort by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to fund its operations through illicit cyber activities, including revenue generation for the regime’s weapons programs.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of the Department of Justice’s DPRK RevGen: Domestic Enabler Initiative, which targets North Korea’s cyber-enabled revenue generation networks.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samir Kaushal and Alex R. Sistla, along with National Security Division Trial Attorney Jacques Singer-Emery, are prosecuting the case.
The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
