Two Chinese nationals have been charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and sanctioned by the US Treasury for allegedly laundering $100 million worth of virtual currency using prepaid Apple iTunes gift cards.
According to a newly unsealed court document, the illicit funds originated from a $250 million haul stolen from two different unnamed cryptocurrency exchanges that were perpetrated by Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group with ties with the North Korean government.
The two individuals in question — Tian Yinyin (田寅寅) and Li Jiadong (李家东) — were both charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and money laundering conspiracy.
Prosecutors said the defendants worked on behalf of the threat actors based in North Korea to allegedly launder over a $100 million worth of stolen cryptocurrency to obscure transactions, adding the hacking of cryptocurrency exchanges posed a severe threat to the security of the global financial system.
It’s worth noting that Lazarus Group was one among the three hacking outfits to be sanctioned by the US government last September for conducting a variety of financially-motivated operations ranging from…
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