Christina Chapman, 50, an Arizona woman who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the global North Korean IT workers scheme, has been sentenced to 8.5 years in federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss also ordered Chapman to forfeit proceeds of $284,000 that was to be paid to the North Koreans. She was also ordered to pay a judgement of $176,850—the same amount she charged North Koreans for her help in the scheme that authorities said was one of the largest IT worker conspiracies charged by the Department of Justice.
According to court documents, Chapman helped North Korean workers fraudulently obtain remote-work jobs at U.S. companies. Authorities said she helped to conceal their identities by accepting and safeguarding their laptops, installing remote-access software, and filling out identity forms to make it seem like they were in the U.S. when they were actually overseas. Prosecutors said Chapman turned her home into a “laptop farm,” with labels on each device identifying the associated company and stolen identity, photos from a 2023 raid of Chapman’s house show. All told, the scheme Chapman involved herself in claimed about $17.1 million in salaries from 309 U.S. businesses, paid to North Koreans posing as American IT workers. Nearly 70 Americans had their identities stolen, authorities said.
