Thomas White, who was once running a notorious marketplace called “Silk Road 2” at the infamous Darknet’s platform has unconditionally forfeited US$ 0.67 Million in Bitcoins to the enforcement authorities in the UK. White has administered the affairs of the marketplace by his made up admin names known as “Cthulhu” and “DPR2”.
Thomas White is the person behind the establishment of a notorious Darknet platform’s marketplace called “Silk Road 2”. He was looking after the affairs of his illegal marketplace under two made up admin names namely “DPR2” and “Cthulhu”. However, his original identity was revealed to the world only in the month of April in 2019. He was then booked for charges of selling illegal products and rendering illegal services. His case was brought before a judicial forum for a fair trial. After going through the merits and demerits of the case, the judicial forum awarded White a sentence of maximum of 5 years.
However, at the arrest of White, his infamous marketplace became defunct. Silk Road 2 was in fact depicted an old Darknet market which too went by the name “Silk Road”. However, even that website was shut down once its administrator/operator was captured and sentenced to serve jail time.
In the case of Silk Road 2, the enforcement authorities in the UK were after the operators of the marketplace. But they couldn’t identify the admin until White purchased something from Silk Road 2 and got the package delivered to his residence. The package delivery was enough for the authorities to at least track someone down and accidentally the authorities got the prime suspect. At the time of his arrest, White was only 26 years old. White admitted before the British Authorities that he was administering the market under the two admin names.
During the course of trial, British authorities alleged that White has made huge wealth on the basis of black money. They told the judicial forum that White has in his possession Bitcoins worth more than US$ 667,000. It was alleged that the Bitcoins were acquired from ill-gotten money i.e. by committing criminal activities. On the basis of this allegation, the Court ordered White to forfeit US$ 667,000 which he was keeping in Bitcoins. Having run out of options, White has had to then forfeit the money unconditionally. His Bitcoins were then taken into a seizure and remain as such till to date.
In the meantime, the Court ordered National Crime Agency of the UK to keep on monitoring White’s financials. They have been further directed to identify if any properties White had ever owned. National Crime Agency on the other hand had said that White was making huge income while he was operating Silk Road 2. They claimed that there were at least US$ 8 Million worth of Bitcoins coming in on month basis. His profit should have been in between US$ 1.5 to 2 Million, claimed National Crime Agency.
It has now been more than 2 years, since White has been put into jail. He still has 3 further years to complete his 5 years’ sentence.