A court in the United States has sentenced Arizona resident Christina Marie Chapman to 102 months in prison for a massive fraudulent scheme that netted her North Korean partners over $17 million. She was accused of facilitating the employment of North Korean IT specialists in hundreds of American companies under the guise of being U.S. citizens.
This is reported by Business • Media
Employment Scheme and Financial Losses
According to court documents, Chapman organized remote work for North Korean hackers in over 300 U.S. companies, including Fortune 500 corporations. Stolen or forged personal information of American citizens was used for this purpose. She provided them with physical devices—computers and laptops—that she stored in her home or shipped to China near the North Korean border, and her residence was transformed into a sort of “laptop farm” with over 90 devices, labeled according to the company and individual the hackers were impersonating.
The court ordered Chapman to pay $176,850 in restitution and confiscated over $284,000 that she planned to transfer to her North Korean co-conspirators. North Korean IT specialists, using these schemes, even attempted to secure jobs at U.S. government agencies, although such attempts were mostly unsuccessful. At the same time, they managed to obtain positions in leading media, automotive, aviation, technology, and retail companies in the country.
Chapman’s Role in the Scheme and Government Response
Chapman not only organized access to corporate systems but also handled the transfer of salaries received by the fake IT workers through her bank accounts. She forged checks in the names of victims to transfer funds for the benefit of her North Korean partners.
“Chapman made a fatal bet: short-term gain at the expense of U.S. citizens and in favor of a foreign adversary has serious consequences,” said Matthew Galeotti, Acting Assistant Attorney General.
The investigation into this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), including units in Phoenix and Chicago. In June, the U.S. Department of Justice also charged four North Korean citizens with similar crimes: they posed as American IT specialists and stole $915,000 in crypto assets.
Experts from Google’s Threat Intelligence Group reported in April 2025 about the involvement of North Korean IT specialists in operations in European countries, indicating the global nature of such schemes.