Nashville Man Charged with Assisting North Korean IT Workers in Deception Scheme
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Matthew Isaac Knoot, 38, of Nashville, Tennessee, was charged today for his efforts to generate revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK or North Korea) illicit weapons program.
According to court documents, Knoot participated in a scheme to obtain remote employment with American and British companies for foreign information technology (IT) workers, who were actually North Korean actors. Knoot assisted them in using a stolen identity to pose as a U.S. citizen, hosted company laptops at his residences, downloaded and installed software without authorization on such laptops to facilitate access and perpetuate the deception, and conspired to launder payments for the remote IT work, including to accounts tied to North Korean and Chinese actors.
“North Korea has dispatched thousands of highly skilled information technology workers around the world to dupe unwitting businesses and evade international sanctions so that it can continue to fund its dangerous weapons program,” said United States Attorney Henry C. Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Knoot’s scheme defrauded U.S. media, technology, and financial companies, ultimately causing them hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
According to court documents, Knoot ran a “laptop farm” at his Nashville residences between approximately July 2022 and August 2023. The victim companies were deceived into hiring foreign remote IT workers who were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in income funneled to the DPRK for its weapons program.
The indictment alleges that Knoot participated in a scheme to assist overseas IT workers to obtain remote IT work at U.S. companies which believed that they were hiring U.S.-based personnel. The IT workers, who were North Korean nationals, used the stolen identity of a U.S. citizen, “Andrew M.,” to obtain this remote IT work.
“This indictment should serve as a stark warning to U.S. businesses that employ remote IT workers of the growing threat from the DPRK and the need to be vigilant in their hiring processes,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division.
Knoot faces charges for his participation in the scheme.
Mandatory Facts:
- Defendant/Respondent: Matthew Isaac Knoot
- Criminal Charges: Assisting in a scheme to deceive U.S. companies into hiring foreign remote IT workers
- City and State: Nashville, Tennessee
- Exact Date: (No date specified)
- Sentence or Outcome: (No information available)
- Dollar Amounts: Hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages
Key Facts
- State: Tennessee
- Category: Cybercrime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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