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The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a group of bankers and financial institutions accused of helping pay for money laundering cybercrime schemes North Korea’s nuclear weapons program,
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department has alleged this North Korean malware and social engineering schemes Over the past three years, it has invested more than $3 billion in mostly digital assets, an amount unmatched by any other foreign actor.
“North Korean state-sponsored hackers steal and launder funds to finance the regime’s nuclear weapons program,” John K. Hurley, Under Secretary of State for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement.
The department alleged that Pyongyang relied on a network of banking correspondents, financial institutions and shell companies in North Korea. China, Russiaand elsewhere to launder funds obtained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency theft, and evasion of sanctions,
The department warned US companies in 2022 against hiring highly skilled North Koreans who hid their identities to gain access to financial networks 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, whom Washington accused of helping manage funds including $5.3 million in cryptocurrencies on behalf of the sanctioned First Credit Bank.