The US Department of Justice unsealed conspiracy charges Thursday against individuals accused of assisting North Korean (DPRK) nationals in fraudulently posing as US residents to obtain information technology (IT) jobs with US companies, allegedly generating millions of dollars in income that was then funneled back to the DPRK.

In a press release the government called the alleged conspiracy “the largest case ever charged by the Justice Department involving…[an] IT worker’s scheme.”

The charges included the arrest of Arizona woman, Christina Chapman, who is accused of assisting foreign nationals with stealing the identities of more than 60 US residents in a sophisticated plot to place North Korean IT workers in remote work positions to generate revenue for weapons programs. The government also alleges that the remote workers made efforts to obtain proprietary business technology and make “malicious cyber intrusions into…employer’s network[s].”

The three North Korean nationals who were also named in the indictment have ties to the North Korean ballistic missile and weapons departments, according to the Department of Justice.

The 57 page indictment against Chapman described “blue-chip US companies” among the over 300 businesses affected by the scheme “including a top-5 national television network and media company, a premier Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace and defense manufacturer, an iconic American care manufacturer, a high-end retail chain, and one of the most recognizable media and entertainment companies in the world.”

Chapman allegedly ran a “laptop farm” using company laptops issued to the remote workers to log in and make it appear that the workers were physically inside the US. Chapman charged a fee for assisting the remote workers in the scheme and also helped the foreign nationals receive wages from the companies.

Assistant Director Kevin Vorndran of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division called the allegations a “new-high tech campaign to evade US sanctions, victimize US businesses, and steal US identities.”

North Korea has been under crushing sanctions since 2017 restricting exports and imports and fueling extreme food insecurity in one of the worlds poorest countries. The situation was further exacerbated with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic when North Korea sealed it’s border with China and expanded security measures to crackdown on unsanctioned domestic and international travel.