SilkRoad 2 Taken down by Feds

[dontCAREhair]

None of which is going to matter.  This is federal, and guidelines sentences will be a separate offense for each substance.  Then there's the amount transacted, which will be applied to him regardless of whether he personally had anything to do with it.  Then there's whether it's one of the eight 841(b)(1) substances, and I believe SR2 trafficked in all of them.  Things like cocaine and heroin.

Once drug kingpin kicks in, almost all mitigating factors go out the window.

Just drug kingpin, 20 years minimum to the statutory maximum, life.  Repeat offender, 30 years to life (apparently doesn't apply).  Large operation (e.g., gross $10 million + per year), MINIMUM sentence life.  Killing in furtherance, 20 years to life, and/or the death penalty.  The prosecutors are not playing around with this shit.  They're going for blood.

Haven't heard of anybody being sentenced yet for running an online drug market, guess we will find out end of November/December when they sentence these people http://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?n=2:11-cr-01137-DMG&s=CA&d=71855 I'm guessing life sentence, though that Dutch guy can apply to serve his sentence back in the Netherlands, where they will likely immediately release him on parole. The Americans however aren't so lucky in that case.

People are crazy for operating these markets, not worth your whole life in jail. Leave this kind of high level criminality to Russian mafia connected to the Federation Council and bang out some Clojure apps for $120k/yr, run a side business trading coins for an extra few thousand to take a month to sit on the beach in Majorca Spain without having to sleep with one eye open worrying about police crashing your door and dragging you to a dungeon.

Well the laws (and the sentencing process) in the Netherlands are very different then they are in the US where both Ross and Blake will be tried/sentenced. While they both carry potentially very harsh sentences, it is possible they will be offered plea deals that amount to what will seem like a slap on the wrist when compared to the life sentences they are facing

Tell 3 go free.

These little powder puffs just had internet markets... I know a kid who got caught with 6 Keys of near pure meth and is still out.  He says he is going to go do years in prison, but this was years back.  Probably headed to witness protection.

This would generally only apply for people who are not at the "top" of a drug "empire". For example the mods of SR1 who were arrested could potentially end up going free if they had given up information on either SR1 or SR2 that could help the prosecution get a conviction. I don't see either ross or blake going free this way as they have no one to nark on

EDIT: blake *may* end up going free (or more likely getting a much less harsh sentence) as he confessed right away and could potentially give up information as to how law enforcement could catch a lot of online dealers

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[nothing2seeHere]

No previous crimes. (assuming)

No gun on hand. (assuming)

Has proven he actually brings something to society by working on space shit.

In California.

It'll be interesting to see how it works out. 

He just caught a bunch of conspiracy causes (which suck), but do they carry MMS?

None of which is going to matter.  This is federal, and guidelines sentences will be a separate offense for each substance.  Then there's the amount transacted, which will be applied to him regardless of whether he personally had anything to do with it.  Then there's whether it's one of the eight 841(b)(1) substances, and I believe SR2 trafficked in all of them.  Things like cocaine and heroin.

Once drug kingpin kicks in, almost all mitigating factors go out the window.

Just drug kingpin, 20 years minimum to the statutory maximum, life.  Repeat offender, 30 years to life (apparently doesn't apply).  Large operation (e.g., gross $10 million + per year), MINIMUM sentence life.  Killing in furtherance, 20 years to life, and/or the death penalty.  The prosecutors are not playing around with this shit.  They're going for blood.

SR2 was apparently raking in $400,000 per month in commissions from $6,000,000 worth of sales every month. If they wanted to charge defcon aka blake of SR2 with kingpin charges they certainly could. I don't think they will throw the book at him since his confessed almost immediately, and presumably is willing to help catch other drug dealers.   

[darkmule]

SR2 was apparently raking in $400,000 per month in commissions from $6,000,000 worth of sales every month. If they wanted to charge defcon aka blake of SR2 with kingpin charges they certainly could. I don't think they will throw the book at him since his confessed almost immediately, and presumably is willing to help catch other drug dealers.   

It depends on the balance between how much they want to make an example of these "kingpins" and how much they actually need them.  Depending how compromised his network was, they may already have all they need.  OTOH a good looking, articulate witness for the prosecution is often a deal-closer for the prosecution.

[bluemountain]

It depends on the balance between how much they want to make an example of these "kingpins" and how much they actually need them.  Depending how compromised his network was, they may already have all they need.  OTOH a good looking, articulate witness for the prosecution is often a deal-closer for the prosecution.

Drug kindpins almost never will cooperate with the prosecution and will certainly not confess, especially not right after getting arrested. A number of mitigating factors was posted above but one thing that was left out was his confession. It is almost always very favorably looked upon when someone confesses right away (or at all) - a likely reason for this is because the reason many cases are solved and/or successfully prosecuted is because of a confession and it is in a prosecutor's best interest to encourage confessions as much as possible even when a specific confession does not substantially help a specific case   

[beetcoin]

whoa, i'm a little late to the scene but this was not surprising. everyone knew it was coming.

[btckold24]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

[bluemountain]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

People trade on these markets because they feel like it is more safe then buying/selling on the "streets" as you are at risk of violence when you deal in illegal items on the "street"

[beetcoin]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

if you're buying drugs in small quantities, i'd think that the feds aren't all that interested in spending the money to lock you down.. plus it's safer than buying on the streets.

it's quite risky to sell though.

[deluxeCITY]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

if you're buying drugs in small quantities, i'd think that the feds aren't all that interested in spending the money to lock you down.. plus it's safer than buying on the streets.

it's quite risky to sell though.

I do not advocate for breaking the law however I would say that the risk of selling is actually much less then it is for selling on the streets as it is more difficult to get caught selling as having a undercover officer buy from you would not expose your identity (at least I don't think it would)

[M83]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

if you're buying drugs in small quantities, i'd think that the feds aren't all that interested in spending the money to lock you down.. plus it's safer than buying on the streets.

it's quite risky to sell though.

I do not advocate for breaking the law however I would say that the risk of selling is actually much less then it is for selling on the streets as it is more difficult to get caught selling as having a undercover officer buy from you would not expose your identity (at least I don't think it would)

The feds aren't going to waste time and money tracking down and arresting people who are buying an eighth of weed from these places. It's just not feasible. Law Enforcement will never learn and neither will the black market operators. What we need is a decentralized market that hopefully gets rid of both problems.

[deluxeCITY]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

if you're buying drugs in small quantities, i'd think that the feds aren't all that interested in spending the money to lock you down.. plus it's safer than buying on the streets.

it's quite risky to sell though.

I do not advocate for breaking the law however I would say that the risk of selling is actually much less then it is for selling on the streets as it is more difficult to get caught selling as having a undercover officer buy from you would not expose your identity (at least I don't think it would)

The feds aren't going to waste time and money tracking down and arresting people who are buying an eighth of weed from these places. It's just not feasible. Law Enforcement will never learn and neither will the black market operators. What we need is a decentralized market that hopefully gets rid of both problems.

Any law enforcement agency cannot offer to sell you any particular drug, nor any particular quantity of drugs, as doing so would be considered to be entrapment. The criminal would need to approach the law enforcement officer (posing as a drug dealer) requesting to buy the drugs, and the law enforcement officer cannot discriminate for you and not charge you with a crime if you buy drugs from him

[pitham1]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

if you're buying drugs in small quantities, i'd think that the feds aren't all that interested in spending the money to lock you down.. plus it's safer than buying on the streets.

it's quite risky to sell though.

The problem is that they could decide to make an example out of a few people. And you could be one of those unfortunate few.

[ScreamnShout]

why in the world would anyone risk selling / buying on these markets right now. Its like robbing a stapler from a police department. Your asking for trouble

if you're buying drugs in small quantities, i'd think that the feds aren't all that interested in spending the money to lock you down.. plus it's safer than buying on the streets.

it's quite risky to sell though.

The problem is that they could decide to make an example out of a few people. And you could be one of those unfortunate few.

I would doubt that the police/dea would want to make an example of a small time buyer of illegal drugs. They tend to want to go after the "bigger fish" and will almost always let the small time buyers/users (especially 1st time offenders) off with what amounts to a slap on the wrist

[allthingsluxury]

Adapt and overcome. That is the Bitcoin way.

[ScreamnShout]

Adapt and overcome. That is the Bitcoin way.

Wise words.
SR3 will be up soon I'm sure...whoever the owner will be, prepare your anus.

SR3 was up within hours of SR2 being taken down. Whoever is behind SR3 was likely prepared for the eventual takedown of SR2 and wanted to launch ASAP (although it is possible that SR3 is a scam and whoever is behind it wanted their site to get free press so people would quickly send money to the site so they can buy illegal items)

[darkmule]

Any law enforcement agency cannot offer to sell you any particular drug, nor any particular quantity of drugs, as doing so would be considered to be entrapment. The criminal would need to approach the law enforcement officer (posing as a drug dealer) requesting to buy the drugs, and the law enforcement officer cannot discriminate for you and not charge you with a crime if you buy drugs from him

This is as farcically wrong as the idea that undercover officers have to tell you they're cops if you ask them.  Controlled buys and sells are part and parcel of the regular practices of the DEA and all state law enforcement agencies that enforce drug laws.  What is legally considered entrapment is to try to involve someone in criminal activity who would otherwise have had nothing to do with it, a la John K. DeLorean.

What is permissible is enticement of those who are already reasonably suspected of engaging in such activities already.

[ScreamnShout]

Any law enforcement agency cannot offer to sell you any particular drug, nor any particular quantity of drugs, as doing so would be considered to be entrapment. The criminal would need to approach the law enforcement officer (posing as a drug dealer) requesting to buy the drugs, and the law enforcement officer cannot discriminate for you and not charge you with a crime if you buy drugs from him

This is as farcically wrong as the idea that undercover officers have to tell you they're cops if you ask them.  Controlled buys and sells are part and parcel of the regular practices of the DEA and all state law enforcement agencies that enforce drug laws.  What is legally considered entrapment is to try to involve someone in criminal activity who would otherwise have had nothing to do with it, a la John K. DeLorean.

What is permissible is enticement of those who are already reasonably suspected of engaging in such activities already.

No it is not LOL. Law enforcement is allowed to lie to you all they want as long as they are not suggesting that you break the law, at which point they are committing entrapment.

[Fabrizio89]

Adapt and overcome. That is the Bitcoin way.

Indeed, now we have OpenBazaar which is coming to Windows too and that will open the doors to a plethora of users which will strenghtening a really powerful tool for online transactions of goods. It is like p2p applied to ebay.

[ScreamnShout]

Any law enforcement agency cannot offer to sell you any particular drug, nor any particular quantity of drugs, as doing so would be considered to be entrapment. The criminal would need to approach the law enforcement officer (posing as a drug dealer) requesting to buy the drugs, and the law enforcement officer cannot discriminate for you and not charge you with a crime if you buy drugs from him

This is as farcically wrong as the idea that undercover officers have to tell you they're cops if you ask them.  Controlled buys and sells are part and parcel of the regular practices of the DEA and all state law enforcement agencies that enforce drug laws.  What is legally considered entrapment is to try to involve someone in criminal activity who would otherwise have had nothing to do with it, a la John K. DeLorean.

What is permissible is enticement of those who are already reasonably suspected of engaging in such activities already.

No it is not LOL. Law enforcement is allowed to lie to you all they want as long as they are not suggesting that you break the law, at which point they are committing entrapment.

Exactly.
I'm glad someone understands common law.

The fact that people think that a "cop" must tell you if they are the police when they are undercover is likely from movies that like to promote this misconception.

[TinaK]

SilkRoad 3 is ready, sir.