(CTN NEWS) – A businessman from North Korea was sentenced on Friday to 45 months in prison for several money laundering violations committed to funding the dictatorship there, providing it with abundant products.
And get over U.S. sanctions that have harmed the economy there.
Mun Chol Myong, 55, was sentenced in a federal court in Washington, D.C., and was awarded credit for time served. He was charged in 2021 with cheating American banks of $1.2 million and was extradited to the country as a result.
He entered a guilty plea to all charges in a criminal indictment, including one for conspiracy to launder money and four for actual money laundering.
He entered a guilty plea to avoid a trial, but according to federal prosecutors, he did not acknowledge to the charges’ details.
Myong is the first North Korean person to be extradited to the United States after being held in Malaysia.
U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves states, “this case is noteworthy because the defendant was not only providing North Korea with alcohol, tobacco, and other goods.
But also cash streams needed to support the regime and finance its criminal actions.”
The United States and the United Nations have imposed sanctions and arms embargoes on North Korea to stop it from acquiring weapons and related supplies.
According to federal prosecutors, Myong and his other conspirators used a network of front companies to send money through the United States and fabricated transaction records to hide the fact that the payments went to entities in North Korea that were subject to sanctions.
Myong created fictitious bank accounts and left out mentions of North Korea on international wire transactions to hide the fraud.
American banks were duped into processing transactions that would ultimately benefit North Korea via the plan. Otherwise, the banks would not have accepted such transactions.
Authorities further claimed that Myoung was connected to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea’s top spy organisation, which is also American-sanctioned.
According to the Justice Department, the United States has started the deportation process against him.
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