The FBI has shut down Silk Road 2.0, an online marketplace for illicit drugs that launched after the original Silk Road was taken down late last year.
The website’s administrator, Blake Benthall, was arrested in San Francisco and will appear in court in Wednesday. Benthall’s most serious charge of conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking carries a potential life sentence. He also faces allegations include money laundering, conspiracy and hacking.
According to an announcement from the FBI, Benthall, under the alias “Defcon” owned and operated Silk Road 2.0, a drug trading website accessible through Tor privacy software. According to the FBI, Silk Road 2.0 generated roughly $8 million a month with 150,000 monthly users. Monetary transactions were made in cryptocurrency bitcoin in order to maintain the anonymity of the buyer and seller. Silk Road 2.0’s bitcoin accounts have all been seized in connection to the investigation.
Benthall’s arrest follows that of Ross Ulbricht, the accused mastermind behind the original Silk Road website. Ulbricht, whose “Dread Pirate Roberts” moniker became prevalent within Darknet drug circles was arrested last year on similar charges and faces trial in January.
The takedown was a joint effort between the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Europol. The agencies are continuing to track other black market networks.
“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,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement on the arrest.
The full complaint against Benthall is below.
