The Secret North Korean Workforce Inside US Companies
On this episode of Bloomberg Investigates, we follow an Arizona woman who became a “laptop farmer,” helping funnel millions of dollars to Pyongyang.
Illustration: Christian Capestany
Christina Chapman had just finished a coding boot camp in 2020 when she received a LinkedIn message inviting her to become the “face” of a software firm, one that pairs overseas engineers with US companies. Soon after, laptops began to arrive at her door. The initial assignment was simple: turn them on, set them up and leave them alone. Chapman, who is now serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison, said she had no idea her employer was actually the North Korean government.
The scheme, according to the US Justice Department, aimed to funnel millions of dollars earned from American companies back to Pyongyang. On this episode of Bloomberg Investigates, we show how one woman looking for work in the depths of the pandemic led investigators to uncover a secret North Korean network that hoodwinked some of the biggest US companies. We also speak to one of those North Korean IT workers, who explains how he and his fellow engineers faced abuse, punishment and the threat of death if they didn’t meet their quotas.