Feds indict three alleged Silk Road forum moderators and administrators

The Department of Justice has indicted three men who it suspects helped run the Silk Road, an online drug marketplace that was hidden through the Tor anonymous Web-surfing network.

The three menAndrew Michael Jones of Charles City, Virginia; Gary Davis of Wicklow, Ireland; and Peter Phillip Nash of Brisbane, Australiaare alleged to have worked with suspected Silk Road owner and operator Ross Ulbricht, who was arrested in San Francisco, CA earlier this year. Jones and Nash were arrested last week, Davis is believed to be in Ireland, authorities say.

What he wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak.

Specifically, Jones, who is 24, and Davis, who is 25, were employed as site administrators, which entailed "monitoring user activity on Silk Road for problems, responding to customer service inquiries, and resolving disputes between buyers and vendors, the Department of Justice press release said. Nash, who is 40, was employed as a forum moderator, "monitoring user activity on discussion forums associated with the site, providing guidance to forum users concerning how to conduct business on Silk Road, and reporting any significant problems discussed on the forums to the site administrators and to Ulbricht.

The three men are each charged with one count of narcotics conspiracy, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking.

Meanwhile, news of the arrests have hit the Silk Road community hard. Wired points out that rumors of the arrests had surfaced on reddit (a sister company to Wired and Ars Technica) earlier last week. A reddit user who went by PrincessBtcButtercup (and who later deleted the name) wrote:

"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..

The post was accompanied by a copy of a search warrant and a copy of a business card from FBI Agent Christopher Tarbell, Wired wrote.

On r/silkroad, users are left trying to explain what happened to the site and its second incarnation, which sprang up after the Feds shut the first one down in the wake of Ulbricht's arrest. Libertas, Inigo and Synergy (aka, SSBD) have been arrested, user vytvy wrote in the thread "Stay The Fuck Away From Silk Road." "They were likely found because they handed over their dox to DPR1, aka Ulbricht. All three of them are irresponsible and jeopardized the safety of EVERYONE here by continuing to promote a black market when their 'boss' is incarcerated. It is absolutely shocking that their hubris and greed allowed them to take such a risk. They literally handed over their real life identities to Ulbricht then went on to create/support SR2, despite knowing full well that they were COMPROMISED. That's right. Libertas, Inigo and Synergy KNEW THEY WERE COMPROMISED the day SR1 was taken down.

The Department of Justice notes that its investigations are ongoing.

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Feds indict three alleged Silk Road forum moderators and administrators