Teecht. Nighttime Spider Web Vendor Pleads Guilty To Narcotics Trafficking Together With Coin Laundering Charges

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 French national who was serving at times equally an administrator together with senior moderator on 1 of the largest nighttime spider web criminal marketplaces pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to possess amongst the intent to distribute controlled substances together with conspiracy to wash money.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida together with Special Agent inwards Charge Adolphus P. Wright of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Miami Field Office made the announcement.

Gal Vallerius, aka “Oxymonster,” 36, pleaded guilty earlier U.S. District Court Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. inwards the Southern District of Florida.  According to the courtroom record, including the agreed upon factual proffer, outset inwards or some Nov 2013 a criminal online marketplace known equally Dream Market began operating on the Tor “dark web” network.  Dream Market was designed to promote together with facilitate the anonymous sale of illegal items.  In time, the Dream Market website became 1 of the largest nighttime spider web criminal marketplaces.  All of the items together with services on Dream Market were offered for sale inwards central for Bitcoin together with other peer-to-peer crypto-currencies.

According to the agreed upon factual proffer, Vallerius first off participated inwards the conspiracy yesteryear becoming a vendor on Dream Market.  As a vendor, he sold Oxycodone together with Ritalin nether the moniker “Oxymonster.”  Shortly thereafter, Dream Market employed the accused who acted at times equally an administrator together with senior moderator.  In these positions, he played a purpose supporting the daily illicit transactions betwixt buyers together with vendors on Dream Market, such equally the trafficking inwards narcotics, together with the laundering of illicit proceeds using virtual currencies, Dream Market’s tumblers together with the nighttime web.  Vallerius is scheduled to survive sentenced yesteryear Judge Scola on Sept. 25 at 8:30 a.m.

This investigation together with prosecution was carried out yesteryear members of the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force.  The South Florida HIDTA, established inwards 1990, is made upward of federal, nation together with local constabulary enforcement agencies that, cooperatively, target the region’s drug trafficking together with money laundering organizations.  The South Florida HIDTA is funded yesteryear the Office of National Drug Control Policy which sponsors a multifariousness of initiatives focused on combatting the nation’s illicit drug trafficking threats.

The prosecution is a outcome of the ongoing efforts yesteryear the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership betwixt federal, state, together with local constabulary enforcement agencies.  The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate, together with prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise together with unique abilities of federal, state, together with local constabulary enforcement.  

The investigation was conducted yesteryear the DEA Miami Field Office together with Paris Country Office, FBI Miami, IRS Criminal Investigation Miami Field Office, U.S. Immigration together with Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Miami together with Atlanta Field Offices, U.S. Customs together with Border Protection’s Field Operations Atlanta, U.S. Postal Inspection Service Miami Field Office, the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, Europol, Special Operations Division (SOD), Finnish National Police, Finnish International Judicial Administration of the Ministry of Justice, Dutch National Police, French Ministry of Justice together with the Direction Interregionale de la Police Judiciaire also equally the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.  The example is beingness prosecuted yesteryear Assistant U.S. Attorneys Juan A. Gonzalez together with Frank R. Maderal of the Southern District of Florida together with Trial Attorney C. Alden Pelker of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime together with Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).