Authorities Arrest Alleged Owner of Silk Road 2.0
Federal authorities Wednesday arrested Blake Benthall, the alleged owner of Silk Road 2.0, said a news release from the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Manhattan Thursday. “As alleged, Blake Benthall attempted to resurrect Silk Road, a secret website that law…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
enforcement seized last year, by running Silk Road 2.0, a nearly identical criminal enterprise,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. He accused the site of selling drugs and others black market items. “This Silk Road, in whatever form, is the road to prison,” he said. The complaint against Benthall alleges the site had 150,000 active users generating some $8 million per month in September, said the release. Original Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was arrested last year (see 1407110074). He's being tried under New York’s “kingpin” statute in a case overseen by U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Forrest in New York.