U.S. Treasury Sanctions Crypto Launderers Behind North Korea’s Fake Workers

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned ten people and one entity, including two Russian crypto middlemen, for laundering money from North Korean fake IT worker schemes that fund its weapons programs. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned ten individuals and one company, accusing them of helping North Korea collect wages from foreign employers, many of them American, through fake identities and forged paperwork. The workers are typically placed at legitimate firms under invented personas, sometimes with AI-generated resumes, doctored photos, or deepfake video during interviews.