Ukrainian Pleads Guilty in DC in Laptop Farm Scheme That Generated Income for North Korean IT Workers

WASHINGTON – Oleksandr Didenko, 28, of Kyiv, Ukraine, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in connection with a years-long scheme that stole the identities of U.S. citizens and sold them to North Korean IT workers so they could fraudulently gain employment at 40 U.S. companies, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Didenko, aka “Alexander Didenko,” pleaded guilty before Judge Randolph D. Moss to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Didenko agreed to forfeit more than $1.4 million, which includes approximately $181,438 in USD and cryptocurrency seized from Didenko and his co-conspirators.

Judge Moss scheduled sentencing for Feb. 19, 2026.

According to court documents, Didenko ran a website using a U.S.-based domain, "Upworksell.com," designed to help overseas IT workers buy or rent stolen or borrowed identities. Beginning in 2021, the IT workers used the identities to get hired on online freelance work platforms based in California and Pennsylvania. The work platforms allowed users to advertise themselves as contract gig workers, create free accounts, advertise their skills, and bid on IT work contracts.

Didenko paid individuals in the United States to receive and host computers at residences in Virginia, Tennessee, and Califomia.

In September-October, 2023, one of Didenko’s customers was unhappy with the services provided by his laptop farm in Virginia. The customer directed Didenko to send the computer to a laptop farm operated in Arizina by Christina Chapman.  Chapman was sentenced on July 24, 2025, to 102 months of imprisonment for her involvement in a similar scheme involving IT workers from North Korea.

Through his company Didenko managed as many as 871 proxy identities and facilitated the operation of at least three  U.S.-based “laptop farms.” He enabled his overseas clients to access the U.S. financial system through Money Service Transmitters rather than having to physically open an account at a bank within the United States, which was then used to facilitate the transfer of employment income to foreign bank accounts.

The IT worker clients were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their work, much of which was falsely reported to DHS, the IRS and Social Security Administration in the names of actual U.S. persons whose identities had been stolen.

On May 16, 2024, the Justice Department seized the online domain, Upworksell.com, and diverted all traffic to the FBI. Polish authorities arrested Didenko and on Dec. 31, 2024, extradited him to the United States.

This case was investigated by the FBI New York Field Office, with assistance from the FBI Norfolk, San Diego, and Knoxville Field Offices.

The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen P. Seifert and Steven Wasserman for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of California, Eastern District of Tennessee, and Eastern District of Virginia, Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and Trial Attorney Jacques-Singer Emory of the National Security Division’s National Security Cyber Section provided valuable assistance.

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