The defendant is accused of ‘using false identities on behalf of North Korea to infiltrate American companies,’ an FBI official said.
A Maryland man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for illegally helping individuals in China land remote U.S. information technology (IT) jobs on behalf of North Korea, the Department of Justice announced on Dec. 4.
Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong of Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to prosecutors, the fraud scheme lasted from 2021 to 2024, during which Vong used fraudulent misrepresentations to obtain jobs with at least 13 different U.S. companies and four U.S. government agencies, but the jobs were completed by coconspirators based in China.
Several of the defrauded companies had placed Vong on projects for several U.S. government agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As a result, the agencies had unknowingly allowed the defendant’s coconspirators in China access to “sensitive government systems,” prosecutors said.
“By conspiring with a foreign national to infiltrate U.S. companies, Mr. Vong put American businesses, their employees, and our broader economic and national security at risk,” Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement on Dec. 4.
U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman sentenced Vong to 15 months in prison for his role in the wire fraud scheme. Following the prison term, Vong will serve three years of supervised release, including six months of home confinement.
Jimmy Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, said that Vong is the latest individual to be “held accountable for using false identities on behalf of North Korea to infiltrate American companies,” according to a Dec. 4 statement.
In a sentencing memorandum filed in November, prosecutors said that North Korea has employed different schemes to evade U.N. and U.S. sanctions to raise money. One such scheme involves having North Korean IT workers “obtain assistance from persons residing in the United States” to obtain remote employment worldwide using “false, stolen, or borrowed identities.”
Citing a 2024 report by the United Nations Panel of Experts, the court document noted that there were about 3,000 North Korean IT workers overseas and another 1,000 more in North Korea, with most of the $250 million to $600 million in generated income going to Pyongyang.
By Frank Fang
