Law enforcement officials claim that the man was an administrator of Empire Market from 2018 to 2020. During this time, more than four million illegal transactions totalling over $430 million passed through the darknet marketplace, according to Bits.media.
The platform facilitated the sale of drugs, stolen login credentials, counterfeit currency and hacking tools. Drugs accounted for the bulk of the turnover: sales totalled around $375 million — at least 13.3 kg of fentanyl, 446.7 kg of cocaine, 72 kg of methamphetamine and 103.4 kg of heroin, according to law enforcement estimates.
All transactions on Empire Market were conducted exclusively in cryptocurrency, and customers were advised to use encryption and cryptomixers when communicating on the site to conceal the traces of their transactions.
The platform also allowed users to rate sellers based on how well they concealed the drugs.
Hamilton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic drugs. Under the terms of his plea deal, he agreed to the forfeiture of illegally obtained assets, including 1,230 bitcoins and 24.4 ether, as well as three properties in the state of Virginia.
Hamilton’s accomplice, Empire Market co-founder Thomas Pavey, also pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to traffic drugs and admitted to running Empire Market. Pavey had 1,584 bitcoins, two boxes of gold bars weighing 25 troy ounces, three cars and two properties in Florida seized. Pavey’s sentence is due to be handed down at the end of this month.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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