Maryland man sentenced to 15 months for helping North Korea place IT workers in U.S. companies

A Maryland man, Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release for helping North Korea covertly plant IT developers inside U.S. tech companies.

From 2021 to 2024, Vong used falsified credentials to obtain jobs at 13 U.S. companies, receiving more than $970,000 for work actually performed by overseas co-conspirators—believed to be North Korean nationals. This scheme allowed the group to gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems, including a national defense application used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The case comes amid North Korea’s broader effort to infiltrate U.S. firms, including crypto companies. In recent years, U.S. authorities have charged multiple North Korean operatives, dismantled “laptop farms,” and prosecuted Americans who facilitated these schemes.

In related incidents, four North Koreans stole nearly $1 million from an Atlanta blockchain startup, while TikTok influencer Christina Chapman received an 8.5-year sentence for helping IT workers linked to North Korea obtain jobs at more than 300 companies, generating $17 million.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, North Korean hacking groups have stolen over $2 billion in 2025 alone, bringing the total amount of digital assets stolen in recent years to more than $6 billion—funding Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.