Pierluigi Paganini
November 07, 2014
The FBI announced the arrest of Blake Benthall, also known as “Defcon,” the alleged owner and operator of black market Silk Road 2.0, Ars that is following the case at the San Francisco federal court confirmed that that Benthall is appearing before Magistrate Judge Jaqueline Scott Corley.
“As alleged, Blake Benthall attempted to resurrect Silk Road, a secret website that law enforcement seized last year, by running Silk Road 2.0, a nearly identical criminal enterprise,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “Let’s be clear—this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison. Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don’t get tired.”
According to the indictment, Benthall has continued the illegal activities of the original underground drug market Silk Road that was sized by the FBI in October 2013.
Silk Road 2.0 operated exactly as the original website, it was proposing illegal goods and services on the Tor network, a millionaire business according the law enforcement, as of September 2014, Benthall allegedly processed $8 Million in monthly sales according to the FBI.
One year ago, in fact law enforcement arrested Ross Ulbricht, the alleged original “Dread Pirate Roberts” and operator of the original Silk Road. The Feds and the US Department of Justice claim Blake Benthall launched Silk Road 2.0 on Nov. 6, 2013, a few weeks after the shutdown of the original Silk Road website and arrest of Ross Ulbricht.
Benthall is being charged with “one count of conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of conspiring to commit computer hacking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification documents, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.”
“As alleged, Blake Benthall attempted to resurrect Silk Road, a secret website that law enforcement seized last year, by running Silk Road 2.0, a nearly identical criminal enterprise,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “Let’s be clear—this Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison. Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cybercriminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars. We don’t get tired.”
According to the FBI, when Silk Road 2.0 was launched, it was controlled by another “Dread Pirate Roberts,” which was using the same moniker as Ulbricht, but late December 2013, “Benthall, using the moniker ‘Defcon,’ took over administration of the site and has owned and operated Silk Road 2.0. Benthall managed all the aspects related to the website, from maintenance and improvement of the platform to the negotiation og the commission rates imposed on vendors and customers.
Viewing Benthall’s LinkedIn profile is possible to note that his last declared job position is “Web construction worker” in San Francisco for Codespike, a tech incubator run from home according to Forbes.
According first revelations on the case the FBI has infiltrated the support staff of Silk Road 2.0, according to the US attorney a Homeland Security agent operated under coverage allowing the taken down by the feds through a simple instance of social engineering.
To be continued …
Security Affairs – (Silk Road 2.0, cybercrime)
