• published: 03 Oct 2013
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U.S. law enforcement authorities have shut down "Silk Road," an anonymous Internet marketplace for illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine and criminal activities such as murder for hire, and arrested its alleged owner. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday it arrested Silk Road owner, Ross William Ulbricht, 29, known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts," in San Francisco on Tuesday, according to court filings. Ulbricht, who holds an advanced degree in chemical engineering, appeared in federal court on Wednesday and a bail hearing was set for Friday Silk Road Website Dealt Drugs, Guns, Assassins for Bitcoins, FBI Says A billion dollar black market website allowed people to use Bitcoin digital currency to buy guns, drugs or hire assassins, according to a federal complaint released today. The complaint charges Ross William Ulbricht, 29, with a battery of conspiracy crimes allegedly committed through his Silk Road website, which has been called the "Amazon of illegal drugs" or the "eBay of illicit substances." Silk Road was described by the FBI in the criminal complaint as "the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet." The site's illicit sales revenue totaled 9.5 million Bitcoins and commissions totaled over 600,000 Bitcoins, the complaint states. The value of the e-currency has fluctuated, however, authorities estimated those figures today are equivalent to $1.2 billion in sales and $80 million in commissions. Until the announcement today, the person who ran the website was only known by the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts," a reference to a mysterious pirate in the movie "Princess Bride." Ulbricht is being charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. The complaint alleges that in March, Ulbricht solicited a Silk Road user to "execute a murder-for-hire of another Silk Road user who was threatening to release the identities of thousands of users of the site." The website, which authorities said operated on an encrypted system that allowed users to access the internet anonymously, allegedly sold illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine. The site also allegedly offered other illicit listings, including firearms, computer and ATM hacking lessons and assassins for hire. The federal investigation alleged that during its two and a half years in operation, the site had been used by several thousand drug dealers, who in turn distributed the goods to "well over a hundred thousand buyers" and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars from the transactions. Feds shut down Silk Road, arrest alleged admin Dread Pirate Roberts Drug marketplace czar also accused of murder-for-hire plot. After nearly three years of operation, the notorious website The Silk Road has finally been shut down and its Tor-enabled domain name seized. The Silk Road specialized in facilitating the sale of illegal drugs of all sorts via a hidden service website on Tor, conducting its business entirely in Bitcoin. Its founder, known only online via the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts," has been identified by the Department of Justice as Ross William Ulbricht. The 29-year-old Texan was arrested in San Francisco on Tuesday. The 39-page criminal complaint details not only charges of narcotics trafficking and money laundering, but also soliciting "a Silk Road user to execute a murder-for-hire of another Silk Road user, who was threatening to release the identities of thousands of users of the site." Testimony in the indictment from Christopher Tarbell, an FBI agent specializing in cybercrime, noted that "the site generated sales revenue totaling over 9.5 million Bitcoins and collected commissions from these sales totaling over 600,000 Bitcoins. Although the value of Bitcoins has varied significantly during the site's lifetime, these figures are roughly equivalent today to approximately $1.2 billion in sales and approximately $80 million in commissions." The complaint also notes that law enforcement agents had "made over 100 individual undercover purchases of controlled substances from Silk Road vendors" since November 2011. The Tor Project, whose software enabled the Silk Road, noticed a significant spike in usage in late August and was unable to explain it. It remains possible that the FBI or another federal agency may have suddenly flooded Tor with its own bots or other computers under its control as a way of conducting surveillance on the Silk Road. A competitor, the Farmer's Market, was shuttered last year. FBI shuts down online drug market Silk Road Silk Road, the online drug marketplace, is now under FBI control. The agency also arrested Ross William Ulbricht, who they say created it. The FBI has shut down the online drug bazaar Silk Road -- and arrested the man who they say created it. According to the sealed complaint filed by the FBI, federal agents arrested Ross William