I didn't even know they reopened it buy apparently once the original one went down some one said fuck that and busted out a newer version well the story tells it all brothers[/url]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1415371664.952379.jpg as u can see test cyp and M1 were on their front page "Feds shut down Silk Road 2.0, arrest San Francisco man
Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TODAY
17 hours ago
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AP
This frame grab from the Silk Road website shows thumbnails for products allegedly available through the site.
Federal agents arrested a San Francisco man they say resurrected and operated the dark Web online drug bazaar "Silk Road" that generated $8 million in monthly sales and attracted 150,000 vendors and customers.
Prosecutors charged Blake Benthall, 26, known by the online handle "Defcon," with operating and owning "Silk Road 2.0." The site launched Nov. 6, 2013, five weeks after federal agents seized the original Silk Road website and arrested its alleged operator, Ross Ulbricht, known by the online handle "Dread Pirate Roberts." Court documents allege Benthall took charge in December.
Benthall, arrested Wednesday in San Francisco, was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Jaqueline Scott Corley. He is charged with conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, conspiring to commit computer hacking, conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification documents and money laundering. If convicted of the drug trafficking, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Silk Road 2.0 offered a customer-friendly electronic storefront where vendors could display bricks of cocaine or hits of LSD in the same way a vendor would offer goods for sale on Amazon or eBay. Unlike traditional Web retailers like Amazon or eBay, Silk Road set up shop on the "Dark Web," a parallel Internet system that uses computers around the world to form an untraceable, anonymous network.
To disguise its transactions, users would access the site through The Onion Router, or TOR, which bounces Internet interactions randomly through a system of computers around the world, concealing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses enabling users to hide their identities and locations.
"This Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. "Those looking to follow in the footsteps of alleged cyber criminals should understand that we will return as many times as necessary to shut down noxious online criminal bazaars."
Silk Road 2.0 hewed closely to the original Silk Road's business model, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said. On its opening day, it altered the government seizure notice placed on the original Silk Road site to say, " This hidden site has risen again."
"It is with great joy that I announce the next chapter of our journey," Silk Road 2.0's welcome message read. "Silk Road has risen from the ashes, and is now ready and waiting for you all to return home."
For its first month of operation, another operator, also known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts," controlled the site. The new "Dread Pirate Roberts," also called "DPR2" boasted that he had "taken steps the previous Dread Pirate Roberts wouldn't have even thought of" to protect the servers that would host the new website.
FBI Special Agent Vincent D'Agostino said in an affidavit that Benthall took control of the site on Dec. 20 following the arrests of three alleged administrators of the original Silk Road. Benthall allegedly posted on the Silk Road forum as "Defcon" on Dec. 22 that he had taken charge from "DPR2."
"It has been over 24 hours since we last heard from our Captain," Defcon wrote. "His is most certainly in grave danger... As his second in command, I have very clear instructions as to what to do in this worst case scenario."
Benthall, who lives in the Mission area of San Francisco and grew up in Houston, has worked for a number of high tech firms. He describes himself on Twitter as a "rocket scientist, bitcoin dreamer." On Facebook, he lists his job as a software engineer at SpaceX and a consultant.
During its year of operation, prosecutors say thousands of drug dealers used the site to sell and distribute hundreds of pounds of drugs and other illegal goods. It required its customers to pay in bitcoin, a digital currency that, like cash, is difficult to trace. Prosecutors say Benthall used a bitcoin "tumbler," an online program which passes the bitcoins through dummy transactions to add additional layers of secrecy.
As of Oct. 17, Silk Road 2.0 had more than 13,000 listings for illegal and controlled substances, including 1,697 ads for Ecstasy and 379 listings for narcotic opioids, court papers show. The site also included vendors who sold fake IDs and computer-hacking services, court papers show.
One listing on Sept. 14 advertised 100 grams of "Afghan Heroin Brown Powder" for sale for 9.70 bitcoins worth about $4,500, court papers show. Another ad listed 5 grams of "Highest Purity Cocaine -- Direct from Colombia" for 1.04 bitcoins worth about $488. Investigators also noted listings for a fake Danish ********, a fake New Jersey driver's license, and website and email hacking services.
Silk Road 2.0 charged commissions ranging from 5% to 8% per transaction, amounting to about $400,000 per month, court papers say. When hackers hit Silk Road's bitcoin escrow account Sept. 10 and stole more than $1.4 million worth of bitcoin, DefCon told his administrators he intended to reopen and recoup the stolen bitcoins. Defcon donated 1,000 of his personal bitcoin to return liquidity to the operation, court papers say.
Prosecutors described the site as "one of the most extensive,sophisticated and widely used criminal marketplaces on the Internet today."
As part of the investigation, an agent from Homeland Security, acting under cover, got a job on the website's support staff and had access to the restricted areas of the site. The undercover agent "interacted directly with Benthall throughout his operation of the website," and earned about $32,000 in bitcoin, court papers say. FBI and other federal agents repeatedly visited the site using undercover user accounts and made multiple undercover purchases, including .5 grams of heroin, 2 grams of cocaine and 10 30-mg pills of the powerful painkiller *********, which were sent to addresses in New York City.
U.S. investigators also worked with law enforcement officers in France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Britain. Bharara said the investigation is continuing. In one instance, investigators identified a Silk Road server in an unnamed foreign country where they found logs of chats between "Defcon" and "DPR2." Investigators found Benthall's email address on the subscriber records.
Investigators also had an eye on Benthall's bitcoin account and noted in court papers that Benthall in January made a $70,000 down payment in bitcoins for the purchase of a Tesla Model S.
Agents also had Benthall under surveillance so they could watch how his physical movements corresponded to his online presence, court papers say. In September, they watched as Benthall visited relatives in Houston, noting that Defcon's Silk Road account went inactive whenever Benthall left the house and then activated again within three minutes after Benthall returned.
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