Guilty: DeepDotWeb Owner Confesses
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has said that Tal Prihar, has admitted to operating DeepDotWeb (DDW) alongside co-owner Michael Phan since 2013. DDW was a portal for news and events surrounding the Dark Web where the co-owners of the domain received kickbacks for connecting buyers and sellers of illegal products.
According to court documents, Tal Prihar, 37, an Israeli citizen residing in Brazil, owned and operated DDW along with co-defendant Michael Phan, beginning in October 2013. In addition to providing general information about the Darknet, DDW provided users with direct links to illegal Dark Net marketplaces, which are not accessible through traditional search engines.
The DoJ claims that Phan and Prihar earned themselves over $8 million for providing direct links to marketplaces selling products including firearms, heroin, fentanyl, malware, and stolen data record dumps. The referral links included listings for AlphaBay, Agora, Abraxas, Dream, and Valhalla.
To hide the kickbacks, which totalled roughly 8,155 Bitcoins (BTC), Prihar laundered the funds through cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts registered in the name of shell companies.
It’s not illegal to provide a directory to markets selling illegal things on the Dark Web. It’s another thing entirely if you make money off those sites, though. According to Europol, authorities believe that DeepDotWeb’s admins made millions of dollars in kickbacks from the Dark Web sites they referred people to.
These websites are not indexed on the clear web or by typical search engines. DDW was one of a number of resources that provided lists of active underground marketplaces, together with their hidden link addresses that were accessible via the Tor network.
Prihar has agreed to forfeit $8,414,173. The former website administrator has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and he faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years behind bars. Sentencing is due to occur on August 2nd ans his accomplice Phan faces the same charge. Assistant Attorney General Nicholas McQuaid of the DoJ's Criminal Division said "This prosecution, seizure of the broker website, and forfeiture send a clear message that we are not only prosecuting the administrators of Darknet marketplaces offering illegal goods and services, but we will also bring to justice those that aim to facilitate and profit from them."
In September 2020, US law enforcement, together with Europol and other agencies, launched a coordinated takedown of illegal Dark Web vendors leading to 179 arrests. The joint police Operation DisrupTor also included the seizure of over $6.5 million and approximately 500kg in drugs such as fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and ecstasy.
US Dept. ofJustice: Sophos: Oodaloop: ZDNet:
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