North Korea engaged in a "multi-year scheme" to evade global financial sanctions and funnel $2.5 billion from abroad into the country, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a new criminal indictment unsealed on Thursday.

The allegations state that 33 individuals -- five Chinese nationals and 28 North Koreans -- engaged in a sprawling plot across a half-dozen countries to open covert branches of a major North Korean bank, illegally access potentially billions of dollars in hard currency, and siphon the funds back to the DPRK.