Treasury Targets Actors Facilitating Illicit DPRK Financial Activity in Support of Weapons Programs

2023-04-24 USTreasury

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1435

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OFAC sanctioned Wu Huihui, Cheng Hung Man, and Sim Hyon Sop for supporting DPRK illicit finance tied to stolen virtual currency, fraudulent IT-worker revenue, and access to the international financial system. The text links Wu to converting virtual currency stolen by DPRK actors working with Lazarus Group into fiat currency, while Cheng allegedly used front companies to help bypass illicit-finance controls and reach the U.S. financial system. It also describes Sim, a Korea Kwangson Banking Corp representative, coordinating transfers and receiving virtual currency derived partly from DPRK IT workers hired under false personas by U.S.-based companies. The findings matter for DPRK tracking because they show how Lazarus-linked theft, OTC traders, front companies, and overseas IT-worker schemes are combined to fund the regime’s weapons programs.

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