Ukrainian Defendant Helped Dozens of Workers
In Washington, D.C., Ukrainian national Oleksandr Didenko pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. The DOJ said 40 U.S. companies paid his clients “hundreds of thousands of dollars” under false pretenses. Didenko agreed to forfeit more than $1.4 million, including over $570,000 in seized fiat and cryptocurrency.
Polish authorities arrested Didenko in May 2024. He was extradited to the U.S. that December.
APT38 and the Cryptocurrency Heists
U.S. Seizes Millions Tied to Military Hackers
The DOJ’s forfeiture complaints target funds stolen by APT38, a notorious North Korean military hacking unit accused of multimillion-dollar cyberthefts in 2023 from virtual currency platforms worldwide.
The heists include:
-
$37M from an Estonia-based payment processor
-
$100M from a Panama-based processor
-
$138M from another Panama-based exchange
-
$107M from a Seychelles-based exchange
The U.S. government has frozen and seized over $15 million linked to these heists and now seeks forfeiture of USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
