Arizona woman sentenced to over 8 years for $17M North Korean worker scam

An Arizona woman is headed to prison for nearly a decade after perpetuating a fraudulent foreign worker scam that benefited the North Korean government. 

Christina Marie Chapman, 50, was sentenced to 102 months in a federal lockup for an elaborate scheme that involved helping North Korean residents pose as U.S. citizens and helping them get remote IT jobs at 309 American companies, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

The identities of 68 Americans were stolen in the process. 

Chapman’s scam generated more than $17 million for herself and the government of North Korea and was perpetuated from 2020 to 2023. 

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A photo taken by investigators shows shelves of laptops in the home of Christina Chapman. (Department of Justice)

In furtherance of the operation, Chapman received and hosted laptops in her home from the companies she defrauded, which included a Fortune 500 company, a major TV network, a Silicon Valley tech company and others. 

Those companies believed they had hired the Americans whose identities Chapman stole. Instead, the workers were North Koreans barred from working in the U.S. 

According to the DOJ, Chapman shipped 49 devices to a Chinese city that borders North Korea. More than 90 laptops were recovered from her home upon the execution of a search warrant in 2023. 

She pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. Along with the prison sentence, she is required to forfeit $284,556 that was to be paid to the North Koreans and pay a judgment of $176,850.

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A shelf of laptops in Christina Chapman’s home. (Department of Justice)

“North Korea is not just a threat to the homeland from afar. It is an enemy within. It is perpetrating fraud on American citizens, American companies and American banks. It is a threat to Main Street in every sense of the word,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said.

“The North Korean regime has generated millions of dollars for its nuclear weapons program by victimizing American citizens, businesses and financial institutions,” added FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Roman Rozhavsky. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang, North Korea, Jan. 15, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

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“However, even an adversary as sophisticated as the North Korean government can’t succeed without the assistance of willing U.S. citizens like Christina Chapman, who was sentenced today for her role in an elaborate scheme to defraud more than 300 American companies by helping North Korean IT workers gain virtual employment and launder the money they earned.”