Empire Falls, Crypto Doesn't: Operator Gets 40 Years, Hands Over 2,814 BTC 🍂

A co-creator of the dark web drug marketplace Empire Market was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on Monday and agreed to forfeit 1,230 bitcoin worth approximately $101 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced. Raheim Hamilton, 30, of Suffolk, Virginia, also agreed to surrender 24.4 ether valued at roughly $60,000, three properties, and pay a $5 million fine imposed by a federal judge in Chicago. Hamilton's co-conspirator, Thomas Pavey, 41, of Ormond Beach, Florida, forfeited 1,584 bitcoin last year ahead of his own sentencing, scheduled for later this month.

Hamilton and Pavey operated Empire Market from 2018 to 2020, facilitating more than 4 million transactions totaling upwards of $430 million, according to prosecutors. Drug sales accounted for nearly $375 million of that activity. The pair also sold stolen account credentials, personal data, counterfeit currency and hacking tools through the platform. Customers were required to use cryptocurrency for purchases, and the operators encouraged users to employ mixing services to obscure the movement of funds, the Justice Department said.

Pavey pleaded guilty last year to a federal drug conspiracy charge and admitted his role in creating and operating the site. In addition to the 1,584 bitcoin, he gave up his rights to two boxes containing 25-ounce gold bars, three automobiles, and two properties in Florida. The combined forfeiture from both defendants totals 2,814 bitcoin.

The sentencing follows other recent actions against darknet market operators. In February, Ruis-Sian Lin, the alleged operator of the Incognito Market narcotics marketplace, was sentenced to 30 years in U.S. federal prison. A month earlier, the U.S. government seized $400 million worth of cryptocurrency, real estate and cash linked to the bitcoin mixing service Helix, which the Department of Justice said was used by drug traffickers and other criminals to launder illicit proceeds.