Man Responsible For The North Korea Laundering Scheme Receives A Hefty Sentence

Ghaleb Alaumary pled guilty to laundering millions for North Korea.

According to recent reports, The American-Canadian citizen was handed an 11 year prison sentence for allegedly laundering money to the isolated country—sometimes using crypto in the process.

He was also ordered to pay $30 million in restitution alongside the prison sentence.

This comes at a time when governments across the globe are adopting crypto and attempting to set up a regulatory framework for digital assets.

It is these exact types of situations that concern regulatory authorities, and bring an increased scrutiny to cryptocurrencies in general.

Here are more details on the story:

Hushpuppi Ramon Abbas was actually working for a guy in Ontario, Canada, Ghaleb Alaumary, aka "Backwood." Alaumary made a plea deal with the Department of Justice in California, which names Hushpuppi and five others (whose names are still secret) to help launder $45 Million! pic.twitter.com/9PeOuHa9fO

— GarWarner (@GarWarner) February 20, 2021

Some Hushpuppi-related news (for readers of this: (https://t.co/rFpCUt5YqN): Ghaleb Alaumary, Hushpuppi's Canadian co-conspirator in several BEC scams, was sentenced yesterday to 11+ years in U.S. federal prison for money laundering: https://t.co/CbORFKGjy7

— Evan Ratliff (@ev_rat) September 9, 2021

Decrypt notes:

Ghaleb Alaumary, based in Ontario, pled guilty in 2020 to conspiring to launder money for the North Koreans in 2018.

As the point-person for the group’s ATM cash-out schemes, he recruited others to launder illicit funds received from BankIslami, in which the hackers bypassed fraud prevention mechanisms so they could change balances and increase withdrawal limits.

They nabbed $6.1 million from the Pakistani commercial bank.

Ghaleb Alaumary should have stayed in Canada and done his money laundering in British Columbia where, at least until the summer of 2017, it was seen as a helpful activity contributing to increased real estate prices and economic growth that BC Liberals bragged about. https://t.co/RTNJqs4EVF

— Norm Farrell, IN-SIGHTS.CA (@Norm_Farrell) September 9, 2021

US sentences a prolific money launderer to 11 years.

Ghaleb Alaumary was a busy guy, with connections to:
+ North Korea's state-sponsored ATM hackers
+ Hushpuppi, the Nigerian Instagram influencer
+ A team of email scammers focused on rich Americanshttps://t.co/VaiVsTOu9u

— Jeff Stone (@jeffstone500) September 9, 2021

The U.S. charged 3 men including Alaumary in February, according to BBC News:

The three, who are not in custody, are also accused of deploying malicious cryptocurrency programs.

A Canadian-American citizen was also charged with money laundering.

The men are also accused of being part of the Wannacry cyber-attack of 2017, which crippled UK health service computer systems on a national scale.

Announcing the charges, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Demers, said North Korea “has become a criminal syndicate with a flag”.

One of the defendants, Park Jin Hyok, was previously charged two years ago for his role in the 2014 hacking of Sony Entertainment Pictures.

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