Federal prosecutors in Illinois have charged two males with proudly owning and working Empire Market, a darknet market, in keeping with courtroom paperwork filed Friday.
Prosecutors say Thomas Pavey, 38, of Florida, and Raheim Hamilton, 28, of Virginia, owned and operated Empire Market from 2018 to 2020. Throughout the interval Empire Market operated, prosecutors say the pair processed $430 million in transactions on the positioning, which allowed customers to anonymously buy unlawful items and companies.
In line with a Thursday press launch from the Division of Justice (DOJ), Empire Market was used to promote issues like medicine and stolen bank card info. All transactions have been made with cryptocurrency. Empire Market shut down in August 2020.
Pavey and Hamilton have been already in custody for separate costs – prosecutors had beforehand charged the pair with allegedly promoting counterfeit foreign money on one other darknet market, AlphaBay, which shut down in 2017.
The brand new costs in opposition to Pavey and Hamilton embody conspiring to interact in drug trafficking, pc fraud, entry system fraud, counterfeiting, and cash laundering. In line with the DOJ’s press launch, the fees in opposition to each males are punishable by a most sentence of life in jail.
Legislation enforcement seized $75 million in cryptocurrency through the investigation, together with an unspecified amount of money and treasured metals, the press launch stated.
Arraignments for Pavey and Hamilton haven’t but been scheduled.