Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against Three Individuals In Virginia, Ireland, And Australia For Their Roles In Running The “Silk Road” Website
Andrew Michael Jones, a/k/a “Inigo,” GARY DAVIS, a/k/a “Libertas,” and PETER PHILLIP NASH, a/k/a “Samesamebutdifferent,” a/k/a “Batman73,” a/k/a “Symmetry,” a/k/a “Anonymousasshit,” have been charged with their alleged roles in operating “Silk Road,” a hidden website designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement.
According to the allegations in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court, and the Complaint previously filed against Ross William Ulbricht, the alleged owner and operator of Silk Road, the “Silk Road” website hosted a sprawling black-market bazaar on the internet, where illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services were regularly bought and sold by the site’s users. During its more than two-and-a-half years in operation, Silk Road was used by several thousand drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to well over a hundred thousand buyers, and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars deriving from these unlawful transactions.
Ulbricht, the owner and operator of Silk Road, ran the website with the assistance of a small support staff, including both site administrators and forum moderators. The site administrators were responsible for, among other things, monitoring user activity on Silk Road for problems, responding to customer service inquiries, and resolving disputes between buyers and vendors. The forum moderators were responsible for, among other things, monitoring user activity on discussion forums associated with the site, providing guidance to forum users concerning how to conduct business on Silk Road, and reporting any significant problems discussed on the forums to the site administrators and to Ulbricht.
JONES and DAVIS worked as site administrators on Silk Road. NASH worked as the primary moderator on the Silk Road discussion forums. JONES, DAVIS, and NASH were each paid salaries by Ulbricht for their roles in connection with Silk Road. JONES, 24, of Charles City, Virginia, DAVIS, 25, of Wicklow, Ireland, and NASH, 40, of Brisbane, Australia, are each charged with one count of narcotics conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
JONES was arrested in Charles City, Virginia, on December 19, 2013, and was presented in Richmond, Virginia in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia today. DAVIS is believed to be in Ireland. NASH was arrested in Australia on December 20, 2013, by the Australian Federal Police in Brisbane, Australia. The charges and the allegations in the indictment unsealed today are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
As part of his plea agreement, JONES will forfeit $80,000 and a laptop computer to the government. The charges in the indictment unsealed today are the result of an ongoing investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”).
The case is being prosecuted by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Related Federal Cases
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- Matthew S. Greacen, Steroid Fraud Conspiracy, New York 2024 · Washington
- James Walker, Conspiracy to Distribute Narcotics, West Virginia 2024 · Virginia
- Sark Wire Corporation, PPP Loan Fraud, New York 2023 · Ohio
- Kenneth Thom, Investment Adviser Fraud, New York NY, 2026 · Ohio
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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