Arizona woman sentenced over $17 million North Korea worker fraud scheme
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Arizona woman sentenced over $17 million North Korea worker fraud scheme
Christina Marie Chapman, 50, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, was sentenced to 102 months in prison on Thursday. She pleaded guilty in February in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. Chapman was paid $176,850, and much of the wages earned by North Korean workers eventually made its way to the autocratic government of leader Kim Jong Un, the Justice Department said. She was among several U.S. and foreign nationals indicted in recent years over participating in schemes to help North Koreans obtain remote jobs using false U.s. identities. She is ordered to pay back what she made and to forfeit $284,556 that was yet to be paid to the North Koreans.
She was among several U.S. and foreign nationals indicted in recent years over participating in schemes to help North Koreans obtain remote jobs using false U.S. identities. The reclusive regime is under U.S. and United Nations sanctions, which prevent U.S. companies from conducting most transactions with its nationals.
Advertisement Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
Chapman was paid $176,850, and much of the wages earned by North Korean workers eventually made its way to the autocratic government of leader Kim Jong Un, the Justice Department said.
U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss ordered Chapman to pay back what she made and to forfeit $284,556 that was yet to be paid to the North Koreans.
Chapman’s role in the scheme was to operate a “laptop farm,” where she hosted dozens of computers and other hardware sent by U.S. companies to her address so that the companies believed the work was being done within the United States.
More than 300 U.S. companies hired the North Korean workers for IT positions, including a top-five major television network, a Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace manufacturer, an American carmaker, a luxury retail store and a U.S. media and entertainment company, the Justice Department said. At least 68 U.S.-based victims had their identities stolen to be misrepresented as working for the U.S. companies as part of the scheme.
Advertisement
On some occasions, Chapman sent work equipment on to other locations — most frequently to Dandong, China, on the North Korean border — and other times kept it in her home. She installed a program on those computers that allowed remote access to them from overseas.
Wages were deposited into Chapman’s bank account and payroll checks were sent to her, and she transferred the money onward.
Advertisement Advertisement
Her name, address and debit card were also used to register with a background-check company, with which co-conspirators were able to buy useful information to impersonate U.S. nationals, and she mailed fraudulent documentation.
Chapman’s attorneys told the court that she had experienced repeated physical, emotional and sexual abuse as a child and lacked life skills. She enrolled in a computer science boot camp after she became her mother’s caregiver following a cancer diagnosis and was soon recruited for the job.
Advertisement
After she became aware of the illegality of the role, she continued because “for the first time in her life,” she was financially stable and could support her mother, who died in 2023, according to her attorneys.
In a letter to the judge, she said she felt “deeply ashamed” and also wanted to thank the FBI. “I had been trying to get away from the guys that I was working with for awhile and wasn’t really sure how to do it,” she wrote, adding that, “while this wasn’t the ideal way,” she was “thankful” to have been extricated from the scheme.
Arizona woman sentenced in North Korean ‘laptop farm’ scheme
Christina Chapman of Litchfield Park operated a scheme which helped North Koreans work in remote IT positions at more than 300 U.S. companies. She will be required to serve three years of supervised release, give back $284,555.92 that was to be paid to the North Koreans and pay a judgment of $176,850. The 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Christina Chapman of Litchfield Park operated a scheme which helped North Koreans work in remote IT positions at more than 300 U.S. companies, which in turn generated more than $17 million in illegal revenue for herself and for North Korea.
The 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Following her prison sentence, she will be required to serve three years of supervised release, give back $284,555.92 that was to be paid to the North Koreans and pay a judgment of $176,850, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs.
Chapman stole the identities of 68 U.S. citizens and then used those identities to apply for remote jobs in IT. She used temporary staffing organizations and other contracting companies to help operate her scheme which ran from October 2020 to October 2023. An execution of a search warrant ended her operation in October 2023.
The Litchfield Park resident defrauded 309 U.S. businesses and two international businesses, including Fortune 500 companies, according to court documents.
Chapman’s laptop farm saw her receive computers from American-based companies to which she used at her home to trick these companies into believing work was being done in the United States.
She additionally shipped 49 laptops and other devices to foreign ports, including multiple packages sent to a city on the Chinese-North Korean border. Authorities seized more than 90 laptops during the execution of the search warrant.
Chapman additionally received and forged checks using the stolen identities and received payment from the American companies into her own accounts through direct deposit. She also sent revenue generated from the scheme to individuals overseas.
She also falsely reported millions of dollars of the income she generated to the IRS and Social Security Administration by using the names and identities she stole.
Follow @veenstra_david
We want to hear from you. Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team here.