Italian police shut down darknet market allegedly run by a teenager that listed for sale drugs, weapons, fake ID and “bank drop” money laundering services, including to Canadians

Canadians among top users of seized darknet drug and weapons site The Italian Guardia di Finanza has arrested three individuals in Italy who are alleged to have operated the darknet site on TOR called the Berlusconi Market. The Berlusconi Market had over 100,000 illegal goods and services listed for sale such as illegal drugs, fake […]

Canadian jailbird was able to traffic in fentanyl internationally using Bitcoin, US authorities say, and launder money from jail

A Canadian incarcerated near Montreal, Jason Berry, is facing extradition to the US over charges that, from jail, he trafficked fentanyl all over the world. According to the extradition request, the fentanyl sold by Berry caused the death of several Americans, as well as Canadians from overdoses. Berry is serving a 12 year sentence for […]

Eagle Scout who became a Bitcoin multi-millionaire by selling fentanyl-laced pills on Canadian darknet site, found guilty of super kingpin charges

Super kingpin fentanyl dealer Aaron Shamo, who was an Eagle Scout and a Mormon, was found guilty at the end of August in Utah of continuing a criminal enterprise on the darknet and selling fake oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. He is expected to be sentenced to life imprisonment under the “super kingpin” laws, similar to […]

Bitcoin rich kid who sold drugs on the darknet laced with fentanyl sentenced to 17 years in prison

A 22-year-old California man named Wyatt Pasek, was sentenced on August 26, 2019, to more than 17 years in prison in California for selling fake oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Pasek sold drugs on the darknet on a marketplace under the name “OxyGod”, and was paid with Bitcoin. The proceeds of crime […]

The Canadian: “[D]ude, we’re criminal drug dealers – what line shouldn’t we cross?” – Explaining the Silk Road Money Laundering Case

4th Anniversary of Silk Road founder’s Sentencing The end of May marked the 4th Anniversary of the sentencing of Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts, the founder of the now-defunct darknet marketplace website based in California, called Silk Road that operated on TOR, which brokered sales of illegal goods and services, including narcotics like heroin, […]

US Treasury designates what may be first Canadian company as part of a significant “money laundering organization” and “drug trafficking organization” under the Kingpin Act

Canada now has its first official drug kingpin and its a company in Ontario. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) yesterday designated a Canadian company as part of a significant foreign money laundering organization and drug trafficking organization. The Kingpin Act is used for the most serious of designations […]

Several agencies take down Bitcoin mixing & anonymizing service

Working with Europol, several law enforcement agencies shut down a Bitcoin mixing and anonymizing service called Bestmixer, which was one of the largest mixing services for digital currencies. Mixing and anonymizing services or anonymizing exchanges process digital currencies on behalf of customers in order to make it difficult to trace the digital currencies. The purpose […]

OFAC designates a judge and former state governor as Mexican cartel drug kingpins

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC“) designated several people associated with the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (meaning the new generation cartel of Jalisco), as drug kingpins.  Added to the drug kingpin sanctions list is a Mexican Judge, Isidro Avelar Gutierrez, who is believed to […]

Darknet news and promo website seized and founders indicted for money laundering

The US Department of Justice for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced the unsealing of a federal indictment in Pennsylvania of two Israeli men who are alleged to be the co-owners and administrators of the website Deep Dot, which charges them with conspiracy to commit money laundering in association with that website. The site acted […]

$15 million in heroin seized from Iranian truckers entering Bulgaria

The Bulgarian police have seized a transport truck from Iran attempting to cross the Bulgarian – Turkey border with 288 kilos of pure heroin, with a street value of $15 million at the low end. The heroin was dry-walled, meaning each brick of heroin was covered individually with drywalling material. According to the US 2019 […]