The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) together with the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York have announced that they have arrested Defcon, the operator of illicit black market website Silk Road 2.0.
Authorities allege that 26-year-old San Francisco native Blake Benthall was arrested yesterday in his home city, and that he will appear in federal court today. At press time, the Silk Road 2.0 marketplace was no longer operational, with the website displaying a disclaimer that it had been taken down by the Europol, Eurojust, the FBI, US Department of Justice and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In statements, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara called Silk Road 2.0 a "nearly identical criminal enterprise" to its predecessor, Silk Road, which was seized and shut down in October 2013 following the arrest of its alleged operator Ross Ulbricht. Founded in its wake, Silk Road 2.0 has sought to provide an open online marketplace in the wake of Silk Road's shutdown.
Bharara affirmed the position of law enforcement officials, that those who operate such websites will be charged provided they allow crime to proliferate:
"Let’s be clear – this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison. Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don’t get tired.”
"The FBI worked with law enforcement partners here and abroad on this case and will continue to investigate and bring to prosecution those who seek to run similar black markets online," FBI assistant director-in-charge George Venizelos added.
The full report from the FBI alleges that Silk Road 2.0 was used by "thousands of drug dealers", with "launder millions of dollars" generated by the "unlawful transactions" it processed. Law enforcement officials estimate Silk Road 2.0 was generating $8m per month in sales from 150,000 active users as of September of this year.
"The offerings on Silk Road 2.0 consisted overwhelmingly of illegal drugs, which were openly advertised as such on the site," the statement reads.
The FBI said that a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent was able to infiltrate the website, gaining access to "private, restricted areas of the site reserved for Bethall and his administrative staff". HSI further claimed that it interacted with Benthall during his operation of the site.
At least two more arrests have been reported in connection with the site's shutdown, with RTÉ News reporting that a Dublin drug distribution center with ties to Silk Road had been raised. Two men in their 30s were arrested and almost €200,000 worth of cannabis, ecstasy and LSD were taken into custody.
Officers from the Garda National Drug Unit, the Computer Crime investigation Unit, and the Criminal Assets Bureau reported that the two men were major players in the distribution of illicit substances through black market websites, according to the report.
At press time, Silk Road 2.0's competing marketplace Agora was still online, though OpenBazaar had issued a foreboding tweet that could signal further action.
November 06, 2014 at 05:04PM
