Infamous online marketplace Silk Road seized by FBI and arrest of alleged owner Ulbricht
The darknet site Silk Road has been taken down by law enforcement. The site gained notoreity as a portal through which to purchase illegal goods, using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
FBI estimates suggest that the site has generated revenues totalling over 9.5m Bitcoins, and collected commissions from sales totalling over 600,000 Bitcoins. That equates to around $1.2bn in sales and $80m in commission.
Ross William Ulbricht, the alleged owner of Silk Road, has been arrested and had 26,000 Bitcoin (that's around $3.6m (£2.2m)) seized.
The document embedded below explains how he was arrested (look at the "Identification" section). The document reveals how Ulbricht was tracked through forums, identified with his driving license and how he attempted to arrange a professional hit on someone who could expose him.
Ulbricht, a 29 year old, had allegedly been using the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts to operate the website. He's alleged to have distributed and possessed with an intent to distribute a large quantity of drugs:
1 kilogram and more of substances containing a detectable amount of heroin, 5 kilograms and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of cocaine, 10 grams and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and 500 grams and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers and salts of its isomers.
The website is only accessible through the anonymity network Tor, making use of the service untraceable, and all payments must be made in Bitcoin – so payments are untraceable too.
Now Bitcoin values are crashing – just look at the volume bars:
(Bitcoinity)