The US Treasury Department has sanctioned two individuals and one company for laundering cryptocurrency for North Korean hackers.
According to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), two Chinese nationals, Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian, helped launder digital assets as part of a large-scale illicit network. They worked for a United Arab Emirates-based front company called Green Alpine Trading, which also engaged in illicit activity and was sanctioned by the United States.
The agency said Lu, Zhang and Green Alpine Trading received assignments from Sim Hyung-seop, a representative of North Korea's Kwangson Banking Corporation, a government agency long accused of funding North Korea's military programs.
The DPRK continues to use third-party agents and intermediaries to access the international financial system to conduct illicit financial activities, including information technology fraud, digital asset theft, and money laundering, in support of its illicit weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, OFAC said in a statement.
It is known that the US Treasury Department worked closely with their colleagues from the UAE to uncover the criminal network. Now all assets of Lu, Zhang and Green Alpine Trading in the United States are frozen. OFAC also warned that American citizens and companies are strictly prohibited from doing business with individuals or companies under sanctions.
