A U.S. federal court has ordered the forfeiture of about $212,700 in USDC and USDT after prosecutors linked the funds to payments made to North Korean IT workers operating through overseas jobs. The decision gives the Justice Department a limited win in a broader civil case aimed at recovering more than $7.74 million in digital assets.

The seized funds came from wallet 0x81c4, which the government said received stablecoin transfers from addresses used to collect wages for North Korean workers. Prosecutors argued the workers hid their identities and locations, then moved earnings through crypto as part of a sanctions evasion and money laundering network.

Court sides with prosecutors on seized wallet

Judge Contreras found the government had provided enough detail to connect the 0x81c4 wallet to the alleged scheme. In the ruling, the court said the allegations were sufficient, for purposes of a default judgment, to show that the assets were proceeds traceable to violations described by prosecutors.

According to the court, the government’s account set out a wire fraud and money laundering operation involving foreign entities that conducted transactions on behalf of sanctioned individuals in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Based on that showing, judgment was entered in favor of the United States for the assets taken from the wallet.

How the $212,700 was traced

Prosecutors said the wallet received around 158,123 USDC from at least 10 addresses used to receive payments for North Korean IT workers. They also said it took in another 54,574 USDT from at least four additional worker payment addresses.

Together, those stablecoin holdings had a face value of roughly $212,700. The government characterized the funds as wages or proceeds that had been routed through cryptocurrency before being directed onward for the benefit of North Korea.

Part of a much larger forfeiture case

The ruling applies only to a small portion of the assets targeted in the Justice Department’s wider lawsuit. In June 2025, federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking more than $7.74 million in cryptocurrency and other digital property allegedly generated and laundered through North Korean overseas IT employment schemes.

That complaint said the property subject to forfeiture consisted of funds earned by North Korean IT workers, including some people who were allegedly hired by U.S.-based companies without those employers knowing the workers’ true identities. Prosecutors said the proceeds were then sent to intermediaries for the benefit of the North Korean government.

Intermediaries named in the complaint

The June 2025 filing identified Sim Hyon Sop and Kim Sang Man as figures who allegedly helped move the workers’ earnings. Sim was described as a representative of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, which has been sanctioned by the United States.

Kim was sanctioned the following month along with Chinyong and was identified in the complaint as the chief executive of that organization, which employs delegations of IT workers overseas. Prosecutors alleged that Kim acted as an intermediary between the workers and the Foreign Trade Bank by transferring funds from workers to Sim.

What the decision changes next

For now, the court’s order confirms forfeiture only of the stablecoins seized from wallet 0x81c4. It does not resolve the full Justice Department effort to recover the larger pool of assets described in the June 2025 complaint.

The next confirmed point in the case is that the broader civil forfeiture action, covering more than $7.74 million in alleged proceeds and related digital property, remains the main vehicle for the government’s wider claims.

Source: crypto.news