Alleged Admin of Darknet Marketplace Monopoly Market Extradited to US

The suspected head of the Monopoly Market darknet marketplace has been extradited from Austria to look charges successful the U.S. The man, a national of Serbia and Croatia who was arrested successful Vienna past November, has been accused of facilitating $18 cardinal successful amerciable cause transactions utilizing cryptocurrencies.

DNM Administrator Charged successful U.S. With Running Drug Market connected the Dark Web

Austrian authorities announced connected Monday they person extradited to the United States the alleged head of a ample darknet marketplace (DNM) known arsenic Monopoly Market. Milomir Desnica, a 33-year-old nonmigratory of the Serbian municipality of Smederevska Palanka, was handed implicit connected Friday, the Associated Press reported.

Desnica has been accused by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of moving the Monopoly Market tract and facilitating $18 cardinal successful amerciable transactions related to cause commercialized utilizing cryptocurrencies. The acheronian web marketplace was unopen down successful December 2021 erstwhile its servers were seized.

Last month, Europol unveiled the results of a large operation, conducted successful collaboration with instrumentality enforcement agencies from Europe, the U.S., the U.K., and Brazil, which led to 288 arrests and the seizure of implicit $53 cardinal successful currency and crypto assets, on with drugs and weapons.

The charges against Desnica, unsealed connected May 25, were announced by the DOJ connected June 23. He was indicted connected July 26, 2022, by a expansive assemblage successful the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia connected charges of conspiracy to person and administer methamphetamine and 1 number of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The indictment besides seeks confiscation of each transgression proceeds.

On the Monopoly servers seized successful 2021, investigators recovered records of the narcotics income facilitated by Monopoly, fiscal records documenting cryptocurrency payments connected Monopoly, and communications with vendors which helped to place Desnica arsenic the DNM’s operator.

The authorities allege that betwixt April 2020 and July 2022 Milomir Desnica utilized astatine slightest 2 crypto exchanges to person his cryptocurrency, moving the integer wealth betwixt blockchains earlier yet selling it to peer-to-peer traders successful Serbia for fiat successful bid to launder the proceeds from the cause sales.

The DOJ elaborate that the cause organisation complaint carries a maximum condemnation of beingness successful situation portion the complaint of conspiracy to perpetrate wealth laundering tin effect successful a maximum word of 20 years successful prison. The charges besides transportation imaginable fiscal penalties, the section added.

Monopoly Market and different darknet markets person been a large people for instrumentality enforcement agencies astir the world. In April 2022, constabulary successful Germany shut down what was past 1 of the largest DNMs, Hydra, which was focused connected Russian-speaking users.

Do you deliberation instrumentality enforcement authorities volition unopen down different DNMs successful the adjacent future? Share your thoughts connected the taxable successful the comments conception below.