Two individuals from New Jersey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering after their arrest in June 2025 for running laptop farms that allowed North Korean IT workers to pose as American residents and work at U.S. companies. According to the Department of Justice, the two individuals, Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang, were sentenced to 9 years and 7 years and 8 months of prison time, respectively, plus another three years of supervised release. Furthermore, they are required to forfeit a total of $600,000 that they were paid for during their service to North Korea, more formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
“For years, the defendants enriched themselves by assisting North Korean actors in a fraudulent scheme to gain employment with U.S. companies,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the statement. “The ruse placed North Korean IT workers on the payrolls of unwitting U.S. companies and in U.S. computer systems, thereby harming our national security. NSD will hold accountable those who facilitate North Korea’s illicit revenue generation efforts.”
