Aug. 8 (UPI) — A Tennessee man has been arrested for allegedly helping North Korea raise money to buy illicit weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
“Matthew Isaac Knoot, 38, of Nashville was arrested today for his efforts to generate revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK or North Korea) illicit weapons program,” the Justice Department said in a release.
Knoot used “laptop farms” to dupe potential employers into believing he was in the United States while trying to obtain remote IT work for foreign nationals for American and British companies. The workers actually were “North Korean actors,” the Justice Department said.
“As alleged, this defendant facilitated a scheme to deceive U.S. companies into hiring foreign remote IT workers who were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in income funneled to the DPRK for its weapons program,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “This indictment should serve as a stark warning to U.S. businesses that employ remote IT workers of the growing threat from the DPRK and the need to be vigilant in their hiring processes.”
U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee said North Korea has sent thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world to take part in schemes like this, following unwitting businesses and avoiding sanctions while continuing to raise money for its weapons program.
Most of the workers acting as if they were in the U.S, are instead in China or Russia, according to the Justice Department.
“DPRK IT worker schemes involve the use of pseudonymous email, social media, payment platform and online job site accounts, as well as false websites, proxy computers, and witting and unwitting third parties located in the United States and elsewhere,” the Justice Department release said.
It added that such IT workers can bring in as much as $300,000 a year while generating hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the North Korean Defense Ministry and others involved in illicit weapons development schemes.
The overseas IT workers associated with Knoot were each paid over $250,000 for their work between July 2022 and August 2023, the Justice Department said.
Knoot is charged with conspiracy to cause damage to protected computers, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, intentional damage to protected computers, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to cause the unlawful employment of aliens, according to the Justice Department.
He faces up to 20 years in prison, including a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft charge.