CLEVELAND — Fourteen people face federal charges in Ohio in an alleged remote IT worker conspiracy that generated about $3 million for North Korea, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced Oct. 13 following a yearlong investigation.
A federal grand jury indictment, dated Oct. 1, charges U.S. citizens and Chinese nationals with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit identity theft and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors say the case is part of a wider federal effort against schemes that place North Korean-linked workers inside American companies under false identities.
According to the indictment, facilitators in the United States helped others get hired as remote information technology workers by companies in 17 states and the District of Columbia, including Ohio. The facilitators received company-issued laptop computers and hosted them at their homes — setups investigators call laptop farms — so the overseas workers could appear to be working from inside the United States.
In all, prosecutors say, more than 70 American employers were affected. The work generated roughly $3 million in revenue, and investigators believe the money was sent on to sanctioned entities controlled by North Korea, formally the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The alleged scheme ran for multiple years before the indictment was returned.
Twelve defendants are named in the public reporting on the indictment, among them Michael James Bostelle, 31, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Juan Cecilio Pena Carrillo, 37, of San Juan, Texas. The other named defendants are listed in China or at unknown locations. Two additional defendants remain under seal, bringing the total charged to 14.
Bostelle and Carrillo were recently arrested and are expected to make their initial court appearances in the Northern District of Ohio in the near future, prosecutors said. The remaining defendants are still at large. An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The FBI’s Cleveland Division is investigating remote IT worker fraud in the Northern District of Ohio as part of a nationwide focus on the schemes. The bureau has warned employers that North Korea recruits American facilitators to help its workers defeat hiring checks and company security screening, and it urges businesses to verify the identities and work locations of remote technology hires.
For Ohio employers, the case is a reminder that a routine remote hire can carry legal and security risks far beyond one job. Companies that discover a suspicious worker are asked to contact law enforcement rather than simply ending the contract. NewsForce247 will follow the defendants’ first court appearances and any further arrests in the case.
