$2.3M Of Bitcoin Forfeited In Deep Web Black Market Vendor Arrest

Binh Thanh Le, a 25-year-old from Brockton, Massachusetts, was sentenced to eight years for selling MDMA, ketamine and alprazolam (Xanax) through the dark web under the nickname EastSideHigh — he was also ordered to forfeit over 59 Bitcoin BTC/USD worth over $2 million and $115,000 in cash.

What Happened: Darknet Live, a news outlet specializing in deep web markets, reported on Saturday that Le already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess the drugs with the intent to distribute them. He and his co-conspirators Steven McCall and Allante Pires imported large quantities of drugs from international sources and pressed pills for resale purposes.

As part of the investigations, an undercover officer posed as a person willing to acquire $200,000 of Le's Bitcoin for cash. On March 27, the agent arranged a meeting at a Hampton Inn hotel as other officers surveilled the three suspects.

Also Read: Bitcoin May Effectively Be Banned In Europe As EU Set To Finalize Regulatory Framework For Crypto

Law enforcement was able to determine that Pires and Le would be conducting the transaction at the hotel, while McCall would stay working at their storage facility. During the meeting, Le entered the hotel and transferred $200,000 worth of Bitcoin from a wallet installed on a mobile phone while Pires waited outside.

After arresting Le and Pires, the officers also raided the storage unit that the group rented — where law enforcement was also able to execute a search warrant and arrest McCall as well.

McCall was wearing a gas mask and latex gloves when arrested, the police also found 6,200 grams of MDMA and 5,000 grams of ketamine. During the search, the officers also found a desktop computer opened on the EastSideHigh vendor page on the deep web black market Street Market.

By the end of the investigation, the police seized a total of 19 kilograms of MDMA, 7 kilograms of ketamine, one kilogram of cocaine and over 10,000 counterfeit Xanax pills. 

"The Dark Web is a rising threat to our communities and must be taken very seriously," U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said following Le's sentencing. "Anonymous networks open the door for people, including our children, to order deadly amounts of illegal narcotics from anywhere in the world and have them delivered to their doorsteps."

Photo: Courtesy of Credit: BeatingBetting.co on Flickr