Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

About Author

Amin Ayan is a crypto journalist with over four years of experience in the industry. He has contributed to leading publications such as Cryptonews, Investing.com, 99Bitcoins, and 24/7 Wall St. He has…

Share

Last updated: 

July 25, 2025

An Arizona-based TikTok influencer has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for her role in a North Korean plot to infiltrate the U.S. tech workforce and fund the regime’s weapons program.

Christina Marie Chapman, who gained popularity online for her freelance lifestyle content, was convicted in Washington, D.C. on charges of wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.

In addition to prison time, Chapman was ordered to forfeit over $284,000 and pay restitution of $176,850. She will also serve three years of supervised release.

TikToker Ran ‘Laptop Farm’ to Help North Korean IT Workers Pose as US Employees

According to prosecutors, Chapman operated a “laptop farm” from her home, allowing North Korean IT workers to remotely access U.S.-based networks while appearing to be physically located inside the country.

Between 2020 and her arrest, she helped operatives obtain remote roles at more than 300 American companies, including Fortune 500 firms, a major television network, and a leading aerospace manufacturer.

“Even an adversary as sophisticated as the North Korean government can’t succeed without the assistance of willing U.S. citizens like Christina Chapman,” said Roman Rozhavsky, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

US authorities say North Korea has built a global network of IT operatives who use fake identities and proxy networks to secure jobs and channel funds to the regime.

Chapman’s activities helped facilitate these efforts by setting up U.S.-based internet access, laundering wages through personal bank accounts, and shipping laptops overseas, including multiple devices sent to a Chinese city near North Korea.

Investigators seized more than 90 laptops from her residence and discovered she had sent 49 more abroad.

The wages earned by the North Korean agents were misreported to the US tax and social security agencies under stolen or borrowed American identities.

The crypto sector remains a key target in this operation. According to Chainalysis, North Korean-linked hackers stole $1.34 billion in cryptocurrency in 2024 alone, up 21% from the previous year.

Cybersecurity experts say North Korean job seekers are increasingly sophisticated, often hiring European actors to front video interviews while using VPNs and proxy IPs to conceal their locations.

North Korea Linked to Major Crypto Hacks

North Korea has also been linked to several other major crypto heists, including those targeting Bybit, the Ronin Bridge, Harmony, and various DeFi platforms.

Global law enforcement is responding. The U.S. Department of Justice recently moved to seize over $7.7 million in digital assets tied to North Korean IT workers embedded in blockchain firms.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and South Korea signed a bilateral agreement in 2023 to enhance their technical capabilities in detecting and countering DPRK cyber operations.

North Korean cyber strategies continue to evolve. In April, Lazarus-linked operatives reportedly set up US-based shell companies to distribute malware to crypto developers.

Kraken recently thwarted an infiltration attempt by a suspected North Korean posing as a job candidate.

One physician in California has skipped town after manipulating the Medicare system to defraud the government of nearly $1.5 million.

According to a new Department of Justice (DOJ) press release, 61-year-old Medicare provider Lilit Gagikovna Baltaian of Porter Ranch, CA, has been sentenced, in absentia, to four-and-a-half years in prison for healthcare fraud.

The DOJ says the fugitive issued false certifications in Los Angeles from 2012 to 2018, costing the government $1.497 million.

“From approximately January 2012 to July 2018, she falsely certified patients to receive home health care from at least four Los Angeles area home health agencies. These certifications were used by the home health agencies to fraudulently bill Medicare.

In some instances, Baltaian pre-signed blank, undated physician certification forms knowing that the home health agencies would falsify the forms to make appear that she had seen the Medicare beneficiaries and made clinical findings to support the need for home health care, when she had done neither. Baltaian received cash payments related to these referrals and also separately billed Medicare for signing the fraudulent certifications.”

Though Baltaian pleaded guilty to a count of healthcare fraud in November of last year, the physician fraudster has since disappeared, presumably on the run from the law.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney

An ex-Goldman Sachs banker is reportedly being sentenced to prison for his role in the massive $4.5 billion theft of the Malaysian State Investment Fund (1MBD).

According to a new report by NBC News, former Goldman Sachs employee Tim Leissner has been sentenced to two years behind bars for paying a part in the multibillion-dollar heist.

Prosecutors say that Leissner and others who worked for the banking giant aided Malaysia in raising $6.5 billion for the nation’s investment fund through bond sales. However, $4.5 billion of those funds were stolen, laundered via bribes and kickbacks, and used to purchase luxury goods and fund extravagant lifestyles.

The report says the scandal was far-reaching and led to the downfall of then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2018, who was later convicted of crimes connected to the scheme and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Leissner is due to report to prison on September 15th. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to bribing officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

Says Leissner,

“The funds raised more than a decade ago could have profoundly benefited the nation and its citizens. Instead, due to my greed – and the greed of those involved alongside me – they were misappropriated.

What we did was unequivocally wrong, and I take full responsibility for my role. I deeply regret my actions, and if I could turn back time, I would undo them without hesitation.”

Leissner’s sentence includes two years of supervised release after prison and a forfeiture of nearly $44 million.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney

A California man was sentenced to more than seven years behind bars on charges related to operating an underground drug-trafficking market powered by Bitcoin (BTC) transfers.

Federal prosecutors say John Khuu illegally imported counterfeit pharmaceutical and MDMA pills from Germany and subsequently used dark web markets to distribute the illicit substances to customers across the US.

Khuu, 29, was paid in Bitcoin and other crypto assets, which he and his co-conspirators exchanged for US currency that was then laundered and transmitted to dozens of different accounts.

The California resident was indicted in May 2022 in the Eastern District of Texas and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Three months later, Khuu was also indicted in the Northern District of California and charged with unlawful importation of a Schedule I controlled substance. He was arrested by agents in Garden Grove, California a few days after the second indictment.

Khuu’s arrest was the result of “Operation Crypto Runner,” a multi-agency law enforcement effort that resulted in a batch of charges filed against 21 individuals for their alleged involvement in transnational money laundering networks.

Last year, Khuu pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and importation of MDMA.

This week, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker sentenced him to 87 months in federal prison.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney