Federal agents have arrested a San Francisco man they say resurrected and operated the dark web online drug bazaar 'Silk Road,' that generated $8 million in monthly sales and attracted 150,000 vendors and customers.
Prosecutors say Blake Benthall, 26, known by the online handle 'Defcon,' with operating and owning 'Silk Road 2.0,' which launched in November 2013, five weeks after federal agents seized the Silk Road website and arrested its alleged operator, Ross Ulbricht, known by the online handle 'Dread Pirate Roberts' after a character from The Princess Bride.
Benthall, arrested Wednesday in San Francisco, will appear in federal court today before Magistrate Judge Jaqueline Scott Corley. He is charged with conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, conspiring to commit computer hacking, conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification documents and money laundering. If convicted of the drug trafficking, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
'This Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison,' Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. 'Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cyber criminals should understand that we will return as many times a necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars.'
Silk Road 2.0 hewed closely to the original Silk Road's business model, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said. Silk Road 2.0 operated on The Onion Router, or TOR, that bounces Internet interactions randomly through a system of computers around the world, concealing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses enabling users to hide their identities and locations.
During its year of operation, prosecutors say thousands of drug dealers used the site to sell and distribute hundreds of pounds of drugs and other illegal goods. It required its customers to pay in bicoin, a digital currency that, like cash, is difficult to trace.
As of Oct. 17, Sil Road 2.0 had more than 13,000 listings for illegal and controlled substances, including 1,697 ads for Ecstasy and 379 listings for narcotic opioids, court papers show. The site also included vendors who sold fake IDs and computer-hacking services, court papers show.
This artist rendering shows Ross William Ulbricht in federal court in San Francisco on Oct. 4, 2013. Ulbricht is accused of masterminding Silk Road, an encrypted website where users could shop for drugs, hackers and hitmen anonymously.(Photo: AP)
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