Pierluigi Paganini July 26, 2019

An Irish national has been sentenced to 78 months in jail for his role as one of the administrators and forum moderators of Silk Road dark web marketplace.

Gary Davis (31), of Wicklow, Ireland, has been sentenced to 78 months in prison for his role as one of the administrators and forum moderators of Silk Road dark web marketplace.

The man, who is also known as Libertas also provided customer support to Silk Road users in 2013, for this job he received a weekly salary.

The man was involved in the monitoring of user activity, in providing customer service, and resolving dispute between buyers and vendors.

Silk Road was seized by law enforcement in 2013 and his founder Ross William Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) was arrested, later it was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on multiple counts related to the Silk Road activity.

According to FBI, between February of 2011 and July 2013, Silk Road managed $1.2 billion worth of transactions for 957,079 users, the total earning for Ulbricht was nearly $80 million.

According to the DoJ press release, more than $200 million worth of illegal drugs and other contraband were sold through the black market.

The FBI also seized about $33.6 million worth of Bitcoin that were sold by authorities in a series of auctions.

In November 2013, after the seizure of the original Silk Road, a new version of the popular black market was launched, so-called Silk Road 2.0, and Libertas was one of the administrators, but it is not clear is the pseudonymous was still used by Davis at the time.

Davis was identified and arrested in Ireland in January 2014, he made opposition to the extradition in the U.S. due to his mental health and fearing for his life. He was arguing that the extradition and consequent incarceration in the U.S. were violating his fundamental rights.Davis was extradited to the United States in July 2014,

“Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GARY DAVIS, a/k/a “Libertas,” was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for his role as a member of the small administrative staff of the “Silk Road” website.  Silk Road was an online black market of unprecedented scope.” reads the press release published by the DoJ.  “During its operation from 2011 until 2013, Silk Road was used by thousands of drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute over $200 million worth of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to more than 115,000 buyers, and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars derived from those unlawful transactions.  DAVIS previously pled guilty before United States District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who also imposed today’s sentence.”

In October 2018, Davis pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, one count of conspiring to distribute massive quantities of narcotics, a charge arising out of his role as a member of the small administrative staff of “Silk Road.”
The Judge also ordered the man to serve three years of supervised release and pay $25,000 in fine.

“Davis’s arrest, extradition from Ireland, conviction, and prison sentence should send an unmistakable message: the dark web does not cast shadows long enough to protect criminals from the long arm of the law,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Dark Web, cybercrime)

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