U.S. Shuts Down North Korean Crypto Money Laundering Network

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The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday said it had shut down a North Korean money laundering network that used crypto to clean millions of dollars for the hermit kingdom, a global leader in crypto crime.

A front company in the UAE called Green Alpine Trading, LLC, had been converting crypto into cash for North Korea, according to a press release by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The U.S. government's sanctions wing stuck that company on its blacklist as well as two Chinese nationals who had been participating in the network since 2022.

The United Arab Emirates partnered in the takedown, according to the press release. It is not clear what's become of the two now-sanctioned Chinese nationals, Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian. They worked in cahoots with DPRK "agent" Sim Hyon Sop, the press release said.

North Korea is among the most aggressive state actors to target the crypto industry. Its agents have allegedly stolen billions of dollars worth of crypto to fund the country's nuclear weapons program. But making digital cash useful, requires its conversion into fiat.

Green Alpine may have played a small part in that web. The Treasury press release didn't say what money it laundered, beyond that it was from "illicit revenue generation schemes."

Read more: How North Korea Infiltrated the Crypto Industry