Two US citizens get combined 16 years in prison for running North Korean laptop farms — fake remote IT work scheme netted DPRK $5 million in around three years

Two individuals from New Jersey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering after their arrest in June 2025 for running laptop farms that allowed North Korean IT workers to pose as American residents and work at U.S. companies. According to the Department of Justice, the two individuals, Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang, were sentenced to 9 years and 7 years and 8 months of prison time, respectively, plus another three years of supervised release. Furthermore, they are required to forfeit a total of $600,000 that they were paid for during their service to North Korea, more formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

“For years, the defendants enriched themselves by assisting North Korean actors in a fraudulent scheme to gain employment with U.S. companies,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the statement. “The ruse placed North Korean IT workers on the payrolls of unwitting U.S. companies and in U.S. computer systems, thereby harming our national security. NSD will hold accountable those who facilitate North Korea’s illicit revenue generation efforts.”

Records reveal that the two defendants, plus several other co-conspirators, stole the identities of over 80 U.S. persons and used them to illicitly gain positions in over 100 U.S. companies, including several that are listed in the Fortune 500. This resulted in massive expenses for the affected businesses, where they collectively had to spend over $3 million on legal fees, computer network remediation costs, and other damages.

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The Justice Department said that Kejia Wang traveled to Shenyang and Dandong, China, to meet a North Korean former classmate who set up the scheme on the Asian side. Kejia then served as the U.S.-based manager of the operation, where he managed five other facilitators, including Zhenxing, in the country that handled hundreds of laptops in their residences. The two also set up shell companies, including Hopana Tech LLC, Tony WKJ LLC, and Independent Lab LLC, to receive the proceeds from the scheme and make it appear that their operation was a legitimate business. In reality, the majority of the payments were transferred to their overseas co-conspirators, with the two Wangs, plus the four other facilitators, receiving almost $700,000 for their roles.

Other operations like this have been busted by the U.S. government, including 29 laptop farms across 16 states that have been uncovered by the Department of Justice in mid-2025. Five other individuals were convicted late last year for their role in operations like this, showing the government’s commitment to stamping out North Korea’s attempt to illegally generate revenue from the United States. Despite that, the hermit kingdom reportedly makes $500 million annually from fake IT workers, with Amazon blocking 1,800 applicants suspected to be from the DPRK.

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