A U.S. citizen has been charged with helping North Korean actors obtain remote IT work, and laundering their salaries to finance the country’s weapons program.
According to a release from the Department of Justice, Matthew Isaac Knoot of Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested on Thursday for his efforts to “generate revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s illicit weapons program, which includes weapons of mass destruction.”
Knoot, 38, allegedly helped North Korean citizens use stolen identities to pose as U.S. citizens, allowing them to obtain employment with American and British companies as freelance IT workers.
Between July 2022 and August 2023, the DOJ said that Knoot operated a “laptop farm” out of his Nashville residence. Using unauthorized software installed on computers sent to Knoot by the victim companies, North Korean actors were then able to pose as Tennessee residents while working from locations in China.