DOJ Raids 40 Texas Laptop Farms and Charges Two Americans in North Korean Remote-IT Scheme

The Justice Department unveiled 'Operation Lone Star Roundup,' saying the FBI searched more than 40 Texas residences September 21-25 and seized ~187 laptops used to disguise North Korean IT workers as US employees at roughly 70 American companies across healthcare, cyber, retail, communications and manufacturing in 16 states plus DC. Two Americans, Michael James Bostelle of Pennsylvania and Juan Cecilio Pena Carrillo of Texas, were charged with wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft; ten China-based individuals were also charged. CrowdStrike assisted; the FBI says 'thousands' of DPRK IT workers remain embedded in Western companies, with Treasury pegging the broader scheme at $800M+ in FY2024 revenue for Pyongyang.