Security News > 2020 > March > 2 Chinese Charged with Laundering $100 Million for North Korean Hackers

Two Chinese nationals have been charged by the US Department of Justice and sanctioned by the US Treasury for allegedly laundering $100 million worth of virtual currency using prepaid Apple iTunes gift cards.

According to a newly unsealed court document, the illicit funds originated from a $250 million haul stolen from two different unnamed cryptocurrency exchanges that were perpetrated by Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group with ties with the North Korean government.

Prosecutors said the defendants worked on behalf of the threat actors based in North Korea to allegedly launder over a $100 million worth of stolen cryptocurrency to obscure transactions, adding the hacking of cryptocurrency exchanges posed a severe threat to the security of the global financial system.

Stating that North Korea trains hackers to "Target and launder stolen funds from financial institutions," the Treasury added that both Tian and Li received $91 million from North Korea-controlled accounts that can be traced back to the 2018 cryptocurrency exchange hack and an additional $9.5 million from a hack of a second exchange.

Prosecutors said the two individuals helped convert more than $34 million of the illicit funds they received back into Chinese yuan by moving them to a bank account linked to the exchange account, in addition to converting $1.4 million worth of cryptocurrency into Apple gift cards.

News URL

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHackersNews/~3/i9KSMKnensE/cryptocurrency-lazarus-hackers.html