Glendale Dealer Sentenced to 10 Years for Darknet Meth Trade

LOS ANGELES – A Glendale man has been locked away for a decade for his role in a darknet-based methamphetamine trafficking operation.

Arbi Setaghaian Sangbarani, 41, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison by United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. for participating in the darknet-based organization known as “NoLove,” which trafficked methamphetamine and Ecstasy both inside and outside of the United States.

At the conclusion of a five-day trial in December 2023, a jury found Sangbarani guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy. The jury also found Sangbarani guilty of one count of money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering.

The investigation revealed that Sangbarani was a member of NoLove, a darknet drug trafficking organization that sold, packaged, and mailed methamphetamine and MDMA to numerous customers in the United States and internationally. From at least April 2019 to May 2020, the organization operated for around a year and a half, shipping drugs internationally and across the United States.

As part of the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and MDMA, Sangbarani and his co-conspirators obtained methamphetamine and MDMA from sources of supply; stored methamphetamine and MDMA to be packaged at a residence in the Sunland-Tujunga area of Los Angeles; managed the sales of meth and MDMA on the dark web in exchange for virtual currency; and packaged meth and MDMA for distribution to customers who ordered those drugs on the darknet.

The group’s illicit proceeds were laundered by exchanging bitcoin into U.S. dollars, with Sangbarani collecting a portion of the virtual currency proceeds and exchanging it for cash. This was the first time the government has introduced evidence involving cryptocurrency tracing for dark web markets in a jury trial in this district.

In February 2020, law enforcement seized approximately 6,701 suspected MDMA pills and approximately 22.2 kilograms (48.9 pounds) of methamphetamine from a shed on the property in the Sunland-Tujunga residence. The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph S. Guzman and Alexandra M. Michael, both of the General Crimes Section, prosecuted this case. Federal prosecutors have secured eight convictions in connection with this conspiracy.

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