Three alleged Silk Road moderators indicted on federal charges

At least three alleged moderators of the forums for the Silk Road online drug marketplace have been indicted on federal charges, according to a document unsealed today.

The three suspects -- Andrew Michael Jones, Gary Davis and Peter Phillip Nash -- have been indicted in the Southern District of New York on conspiracy charges related to drug trafficking, money laundering, and hacking,according to the document(.pdf).

All three allegedly worked for Dread Pirate Roberts, the owner and operator of Silk Road, who authorities say was 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht was arrested last October in San Francisco after a years-long investigation that brought down the Silk Road, which facilitated the marketing and sales of illegal drugs.

Jones, who allegedly went by the name Inigo, is accused of being an administrator on the Silk Road site since at least October 2012. Davis, who allegedly used the name Libertas, was also an alleged administrator on the site since at least last June.

Nash, who allegedly used the aliases Samesamebutdifferent and Batman73, among others, allegedly served as the chief moderator of the Silk Road discussion forum since at least last January. The forum was a place where users discussed the sale of drugs and exchanged advice about taking drugs, eluding the feds, and other topics.

Silk Road administrators were responsible for monitoring user activity on the site and handling customer disputes. Forum moderators were responsible for providing guidance on how to use the Silk Road site, monitoring discussions, and reporting problems discussed in the forums to Silk Road administrators and Dread Pirate Roberts, the owner of the site.

Moderators and administrators were paid between $50,000 (30,000) and $75,000 (45,000) a year by Dread Pirate Roberts, according to the indictment.

Word of the arrests began swirling online when a user of the Reddit forum (which is owned by Wired's parent company) posted a message indicating that her boyfriend had been arrested. The user, who posted under the name PrincessBtcButtercup before deleting the name, wrote that the person with whom she was in a relationship was an admin on Silk Road and had been the subject of a search warrant in the Eastern District of Virginia.

"I'm not sure what his login name was, all i know is that apparently he was an admin and then a mod and that he also ran the book club. He is a wonderful person and has been supporting me (due to my chronic pain), so to say the least my world has been turned inside out and upside down. They told me they were making arrests all around the world at the same time.can anyone give me any info on who he was? i'm hoping he was well liked and respected because even though i didn't know he was doing this, I can guarantee he was doing it out of his passion for Libertarianism and for the idea of a free marketplace. Just thought i would pass on the message.."

She then posted a copy of the search warrant along with a copy of a business card from FBI Agent Christopher Tarbell.

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Three alleged Silk Road moderators indicted on federal charges