A Litchfield Park woman pleaded guilty to multiple fraud crimes, Monday, inside a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C. on Monday, after prosecutors say she helped generate $17 million for herself and the North Korean government.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the charges against Christina Marie Chapman, 48, include wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder money.

Federal officials say Chapman, who is an American citizen, worked in a scheme to help overseas IT workers who posed as U.S. citizens and residents and ended up working in more than 300 companies in remote IT jobs. The alleged scheme happened from October 2020 to October 2023 when Chapman reportedly worked on stealing the identity of U.S. citizens.

Prosecutors say that Chapman received and hosted computers at her home, creating a “laptop farm” so that employers thought they were working from the United States.

In total, the feds say Chapman’s overseas workers received more than $17.1 million for their work, much of which was falsely reported to the IRS and Social Security Administration in the name of U.S. nationals.

“As a result of the conduct of Chapman and her conspirators, more than 300 U.S. companies were impacted, more than 70 identities of U.S. person were compromised, on more than 100 occasions false information was conveyed to DHS, and more than 70 U.S. individuals had false tax liabilities created in their name,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

Chapman’s sentencing is set for June. With her plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 94 months to 111 months in federal prison. (Arizona News, but headline rejigged)