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Bitcoin Transactions Lead To Arrest of Major Drug Dealer (techspot.com)
"Drug dealer caught because of BitCoin usage," writes Slashdot reader DogDude. TechSpot reports:
38-year-old French national Gal Vallerius stands accused of acting as an administrator, senior moderator, and vendor for dark web marketplace Dream Market, where visitors can purchase anything from heroin to stolen financial data. Upon arriving at Atlanta international airport on August 31, Vallerius was arrested and his laptop searched. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents allegedly discovered $500,000 of Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash on the computer, as well a Tor installation and a PGP encryption key for someone called OxyMonster...
In addition to his role with the site, agents had identified OxyMonster as a major seller of Oxycontin and crystal meth. "OxyMonster's vendor profile featured listings for Schedule II controlled substances Oxycontin and Ritalin," testified DEA agent Austin Love. "His profile listed 60 prior sales and five-star reviews from buyers. In addition, his profile stated that he ships from France to anywhere in Europe." Investigators discovered OxyMonster's real identity by tracing outgoing Bitcoin transactions from his tip jar to wallets registered to Vallerius. Agents then checked his Twitter and Instagram accounts, where they found many writing similarities, including regular use of quotation marks, double exclamation marks, and the word "cheers," as well as intermittent French posts. The evidence led to a warrant being issued for Vallerius' arrest.
U.S. investigators had been monitoring the site for nearly two years, but got their break when Vallerius flew to the U.S. for a beard-growing competition in Austin, Texas. He now faces a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
In addition to his role with the site, agents had identified OxyMonster as a major seller of Oxycontin and crystal meth. "OxyMonster's vendor profile featured listings for Schedule II controlled substances Oxycontin and Ritalin," testified DEA agent Austin Love. "His profile listed 60 prior sales and five-star reviews from buyers. In addition, his profile stated that he ships from France to anywhere in Europe." Investigators discovered OxyMonster's real identity by tracing outgoing Bitcoin transactions from his tip jar to wallets registered to Vallerius. Agents then checked his Twitter and Instagram accounts, where they found many writing similarities, including regular use of quotation marks, double exclamation marks, and the word "cheers," as well as intermittent French posts. The evidence led to a warrant being issued for Vallerius' arrest.
U.S. investigators had been monitoring the site for nearly two years, but got their break when Vallerius flew to the U.S. for a beard-growing competition in Austin, Texas. He now faces a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Because some of his customers were in the USA and he was dumb enough to fly to Texas. Not that he would've likely gotten away, anyhow: selling drugs is illegal on both sides and there are extradition treaties in place.
I suggest taking a class on legal procedure if this is confusing to you. It's not the least bit surprising to me.
There are coin 'tumbler' services where you send in, for example, 100 BTC, which is then randomly swapped with BTC sent by other users, and then 98 BTC is send to the address you specified. If the tumbler service keeps no records, and isn't being bugged, it's effective.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
He sold at some point to US customers. The thing is, it's his own damn fault that he was caught. He brought a completely unencrypted computer with all the evidence needed to convict his stupid ass to US soil. Methinks he had been partaking of his own stash too often.
And Portugal also has far less drug addiction than the US and the UK, despite personal use possession of *all* drugs (including cocaine and heroin) being legal.
Iran executes hundreds and hundreds of drug traffickers every year. Even their own authorities admit it hasn't done anything to reduce the drug problem in the country. Malaysia will execute you for as little as 200g of pot; the death penalty is the only permissible sentence for many drug crimes. Drug abuse is rampant.
Are you going to seriously suggest that changing the penalty from a life sentence (current penalty for top traffickers), or 20-25 to life (major traffickers), to the death penalty, would have *any* effect on drug abuse in the US? Especially given the existing evidence that there's no additional deterrent effect beyond 25 years to begin with? The penalties for drugs are already grossly disproportionate to their harm at all levels, and you'd have to increase the penalties on the lowest levels by a *huge* amount to really have an effect. Unfortunately for you we've kinda got this thing here about excessively sadistic punishments. Not to mention the collateral consequences to everybody from laying waste to the rest of the constitution as police power explodes.