A co-creator of the dark web drug platform Empire Market has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and agreed to forfeit 1,230 bitcoin valued at approximately $101 million.
Raheim Hamilton, 30, of Suffolk, Virginia, was sentenced on Monday by a federal judge in Chicago and ordered to pay a $5 million fine. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, Hamilton also agreed to forfeit 24.4 ether worth about $60,000 and three properties.
Hamilton and his partner, Thomas Pavey, operated Empire Market from 2018 to 2020. Prosecutors stated that the site facilitated more than 4 million transactions totaling upwards of $430 million, with drug sales accounting for nearly $375 million of that activity. The platform also sold stolen account credentials, personal data, counterfeit currency, and hacking tools.
According to the Justice Department, the operators required customers to use cryptocurrency and encouraged the use of mixing services to obscure fund movements.
Pavey, 41, of Ormond Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty last year to a federal drug conspiracy charge. He forfeited 1,584 bitcoin, two properties in Florida, three automobiles, and two boxes containing 25-ounce gold bars. Pavey is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.
