Arizona woman sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for hosting ‘laptop farm’ benefiting North Korea

PHOENIX – An Arizona woman was sentenced to 102 months in prison for her role in running a laptop farm that generated millions of dollars for herself and for North Korea, authorities announced on Thursday.

Christina Chapman of Litchfield Park operated a scheme which helped North Koreans work in remote IT positions at more than 300 U.S. companies, which in turn generated more than $17 million in illegal revenue for herself and for North Korea.

The 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Following her prison sentence, she will be required to serve three years of supervised release, give back $284,555.92 that was to be paid to the North Koreans and pay a judgment of $176,850, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs.

Chapman stole the identities of 68 U.S. citizens and then used those identities to apply for remote jobs in IT. She used temporary staffing organizations and other contracting companies to help operate her scheme which ran from October 2020 to October 2023. An execution of a search warrant ended her operation in October 2023.

The Litchfield Park resident defrauded 309 U.S. businesses and two international businesses, including Fortune 500 companies, according to court documents.

Chapman’s laptop farm saw her receive computers from American-based companies to which she used at her home to trick these companies into believing work was being done in the United States.

She additionally shipped 49 laptops and other devices to foreign ports, including multiple packages sent to a city on the Chinese-North Korean border. Authorities seized more than 90 laptops during the execution of the search warrant.

Chapman additionally received and forged checks using the stolen identities and received payment from the American companies into her own accounts through direct deposit. She also sent revenue generated from the scheme to individuals overseas.

She also falsely reported millions of dollars of the income she generated to the IRS and Social Security Administration by using the names and identities she stole.

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