New Jersey men given lengthy sentences for running North Korean laptop farms

Two men from New Jersey were given more than seven years in prison for their role in a scheme to help North Koreans get hired in IT roles at over 100 U.S. companies. 

The DOJ said Kejia Wang, 42, was sentenced to nine years in prison and Zhenxing Wang, 39, was given a nearly eight-year sentence for an operation that generated more than $5 million for the government of North Korea. 

The two men were arrested and indicted last year on accusations that they were key figures in a laptop farm operation that saw them manage hundreds of corporate devices and install software on them that gave the North Koreans remote access.

“Today’s announcement sends a clear message: U.S. nationals who facilitate DPRK IT worker schemes and funnel revenue to North Korea will face FBI investigation and potential prison time,” said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman.

From 2021 to October 2024, the group allegedly stole the identities of about 80 U.S. citizens and provided them to North Koreans — allowing them to gain employment at several Fortune 500 companies. The court documents claim the American companies dealt with about $3 million in losses due to legal fees, network remediation costs and more.

Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang set up bank accounts and other infrastructure to facilitate the operation. Kejia Wang personally traveled in 2023 to Shenyang and Dandong, both of which are near the border of North Korea and China, to organize the scheme. 

Zhenxing Wang was allegedly one of several U.S. residents to receive laptops and host them at their homes, connecting the laptops to devices investigators called “keyboard-video-mouse or ‘KVM’ switches” that allowed people overseas to control them remotely.

Kejia Wang pleaded guilty in September to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit identity theft. Zhenxing Wang pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Both will be forced to forfeit a total of $600,000 paid to them by North Korea and they will serve three years of supervised release. Prosecutors said they have received about $400,000 of the total amount. 

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said the two men “enriched themselves by assisting North Korean actors in a fraudulent scheme to gain employment with U.S. companies.”

“By operating so-called ‘laptop farms,’ these defendants enabled overseas actors to infiltrate U.S. businesses, access sensitive data and undermine our economic and national security,” said U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. 

During his trips to China in 2023, Kejia Wang met with a former classmate that he knew was from North Korea. Prosecutors said Kejia Wang was the “manager” of the scheme and supervised at least five others who collectively hosted hundreds of computers at their homes. 

Zhenxing Wang was one of the five and he was also deeply involved in creating shell companies to make it look like the North Koreans were working for legitimate U.S. businesses. 

Prosecutors noted that the North Korean IT workers involved in this specific scheme were able to steal sensitive data and source code from a California-based defense contractor that develops artificial intelligence-powered equipment and technologies. The data was sensitive enough to qualify under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), according to the DOJ. 

Investigators have long warned that many of the North Korean IT workers who get hired at U.S. companies pass on their access to more sophisticated government hackers who steal sensitive information, install malware or take other actions beyond straightforward IT work. 

Department of Defense investigator John Helsing said the sentences “should act as a deterrent to foreign individuals and entities attempting to illegally access and export critical defense information.”

Zhenxing Wang and Kejia Wang were indicted alongside eight other people, most of whom are based in North Korea or China. The Justice Department issued a new $5 million reward for information on their whereabouts. 

The FBI and Defense Department seized dozens of websites in 2024 and 2025 that were specifically tied to Kejia Wang’s and Zhenxing Wang’s shell companies. 

Multiple U.S. citizens, including one active duty member of the U.S. Army, have been indicted and convicted in recent months for serving as facilitators to North Korean IT workers, offering their identities for use during the job application process or hosting laptop farms.