Alleged Admin of Darknet Marketplace Monopoly Market Extradited to US

Alleged Admin of Darknet Marketplace Monopoly Market Extradited to US

The suspected administrator of the Monopoly Market darknet marketplace has been extradited from Austria to face charges in the U.S. The man, a citizen of Serbia and Croatia who was arrested in Vienna last November, has been accused of facilitating $18 million in illegal drug transactions using cryptocurrencies.

DNM Administrator Charged in U.S. With Running Drug Market on the Dark Web

Austrian authorities announced on Monday they have extradited to the United States the alleged administrator of a large darknet market (DNM) known as Monopoly Market. Milomir Desnica, a 33-year-old resident of the Serbian town of Smederevska Palanka, was handed over on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

Desnica has been accused by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of running the Monopoly Market site and facilitating $18 million in illegal transactions related to drug trade using cryptocurrencies. The dark web marketplace was shut down in December 2021 when its servers were seized.

Last month, Europol unveiled the results of a major operation, conducted in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Europe, the U.S., the U.K., and Brazil, which led to 288 arrests and the seizure of over $53 million in cash and crypto assets, along with drugs and weapons.

The charges against Desnica, unsealed on May 25, were announced by the DOJ on June 23. He was indicted on July 26, 2022, by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The indictment also seeks confiscation of all criminal proceeds.

On the Monopoly servers seized in 2021, investigators found records of the narcotics sales facilitated by Monopoly, financial records documenting cryptocurrency payments on Monopoly, and communications with vendors which helped to identify Desnica as the DNM’s operator.

The authorities allege that between April 2020 and July 2022 Milomir Desnica used at least two crypto exchanges to convert his cryptocurrency, moving the digital money between blockchains before eventually selling it to peer-to-peer traders in Serbia for fiat in order to launder the proceeds from the drug sales.

The DOJ detailed that the drug distribution charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison while the charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering can result in a maximum term of 20 years in prison. The charges also carry potential financial penalties, the department added.

Monopoly Market and other darknet markets have been a major target for law enforcement agencies around the world. In April 2022, police in Germany shut down what was then one of the largest DNMs, Hydra, which was focused on Russian-speaking users.

Do you think law enforcement authorities will shut down other DNMs in the near future? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/ycvtpOz

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

L2 Crypto Project Blast Achieves $660M TVL Amid Mockery for Key Developer Recruitment

Image
Recent data reveals that Blast, the new layer two (L2) blockchain platform, has amassed a significant $660 million in value within its decentralized finance (defi) protocol. Concurrently, while accumulating a variety of crypto assets, the initiative has commenced a search for experienced senior blockchain developers. While Amassing $660M, L2 Blast Project Searches for Developers In recent times, Blast has emerged as a focal point of interest. This project, conceptualized by Pacman , the mind behind the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Blur, has rapidly gained traction. Within a span of less than a week, the platform’s total value locked (TVL) soared to approximately $400 million. Concurrently, Blast faced allegations of resembling a Ponzi scheme. During this period, Paradigm, a principal investor in the project, admitted that the team had overstepped in certain aspects of communication and implementation. Pacman has also countered the Ponzi scheme allegations and further cl
Read more

Harsh Laws Make Bitcoin Holders Consider Renunciation or Dual Citizenship

Image
As digital currencies become a mainstay in society, a great number of governments have enforced strict tax guidelines, severe money transmission rules, and tough regulations. Because of a few nation-states’ harsh rules against cryptos, there are individuals who plan to renounce their citizenship in order to become stateless. Some people will also attempt to get double-citizenship, as both of these acts may help sovereign individuals avoid government intrusion and theft. Also Read: As FATF Regulations Galvanize, Crypto Mixing Applications Are Targeted A Cryptocurrency Advocate’s Quest for Financial Sovereignty May Involve Hard Choices It’s been close to 11 years since the inception of Bitcoin and during the last few years government agencies and law enforcement have been cracking down on digital currency holders. In certain areas around the world, a few countries have extremely difficult crypto laws and stringent capital gains taxes. Countries like the U.S. have imposed strict regul
Read more

2021 Bitcoin Price Predictions: Analysts Forecast BTC Values Will Range Between Zero to $600K

Image
As bitcoin has touched new price highs on Thursday nearing the $50k handle, people have been curious as to where the price will go in the future. Meanwhile, despite the gains so far, a number of luminaries, analysts, executives, and proponents from the crypto space believe the leading crypto asset will reach between $60k to six-digits this year. Mike Novogratz Predicts $100K Bitcoin: ‘Other CFOs and CEOs Are Saying, What Should We Be Doing?’ Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention has gained mass appeal in recent times as the leading digital asset bitcoin ( BTC ) has reached its highest value ever in 2021. On Thursday morning (EST), BTC spiked to an all-time high (ATH) at $48,697 per unit. Earlier in the morning at around 2 a.m., bitcoin was exchanging hands for $44,485 and saw an 8.98% increase since then. At the time of publication, at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on February 11, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping for $47,821 per coin. With BTC so close to the $50k mark, people have been forecasting
Read more