An American who helped North Korean IT workers rake in $17.1 million faces sentencing in scheme that tricked hundreds of Fortune 500 companies
Briefly

An Arizona woman plead guilty to conspiracy, enabling North Korean IT workers to secure jobs at 309 U.S. companies, generating $17.1 million. These illegal roles contribute significantly to North Korea's annual $600 million revenue for its regime. Sentencing is likely to include nine years in prison and a fine equating to her earnings. Prosecutors emphasized that leniency could signal U.S. tolerance of such actions, undermining deterrence against future violations.
A sentence that is too lenient would convey the wrong message to both North Koreans and current and future U.S.-based facilitators that this conduct is tolerated in the U.S. and worth the risk of being caught by U.S. law enforcement.
The tactic generates up to $600 million in revenue for North Korea annually, according to UN estimates, and the funds finance authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons program.
Read at Fortune
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