Sim was charged with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments in 2023 in connection to his relationship with the alleged North Korean IT workers, according to court documents.
While the statement does not specify where the IT workers associated with Sim were employed, the DOJ alleges that the workers flew under the radar by bypassing “security and due diligence checks using fraudulent (or fraudulently obtained) identification documents.” Once hired, the workers would allegedly receive a salary—often in stablecoins like USDC or USDT—and send the funds back to North Korea via Sim or another North Korean national.
“For years, North Korea has exploited global remote IT contracting and cryptocurrency ecosystems to evade U.S. sanctions and bankroll its weapons programs,” Sue J. Bai, head of the DOJ’s national security division, said in a statement.
However, instead of tossing the application, Kraken’s chief security officer Nick Percoco decided to interview the agent to learn more about North Korea’s infiltration tactics. Percoco found that, while AI may make it easy to fake technical skills, it is hard to feign a sufficient level of cultural understanding.
For instance, Percoco said that while the applicant had claimed to have gone to New York University and was living in Houston, he fumbled when asked about his favorite restaurant and knew nothing about the American tradition of trick-or-treating on Halloween.
“We said this is going to be a get-to-know-you, sort of, cultural interview,” Percoco previously told Fortune. “That’s where he really failed.”
