On Tuesday, Rui-Siang Lin was sentenced to 30 years in jail for operating “Incognito Market,” a darkish net platform that prosecutors say “bought greater than $105 million of narcotics—together with greater than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, over 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamines, a whole bunch of kilograms of different narcotics, and greater than 4 kilograms of purported ‘oxycodone’,” between 2020 and 2024. Jay Clayton, U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York, announced the sentencing on Tuesday, calling Lin “one of many world’s most prolific drug traffickers,” taking a 5 p.c lower from the crypto transactions as a “checking account” whereas maintaining patrons and sellers nameless from one another.
By comparability, Ross “Dread Pirate Roberts” Ulbricht, who ran the Silk Road darkish net market, initially acquired a life sentence after it was shut down in 2013, and was pardoned by President Trump early final 12 months. Thomas White created Silk Street 2.0 a 12 months after the primary one shut down, and was ultimately sentenced to five years in jail within the UK.
Lin, who additionally glided by “Pharoah” on-line, pleaded guilty in December 2024 to “narcotics conspiracy, cash laundering, and conspiracy to promote adulterated and misbranded medicine.” As famous by CoinDesk, within the preliminary legal criticism, an FBI investigator mentioned they have been in a position to establish Lin because the operator as a result of he used his actual identify and deal with whereas registering the area. Earlier than shutting down operations in 2024, he apparently stole from his personal customers:
“In March 2024, Lin closed Incognito by stealing no less than $1 million that its customers had on deposit within the Incognito Financial institution. As well as, Lin tried to extort his coconspirators. LIN demanded that the Incognito patrons and distributors pay him, or he would publish their person historical past and cryptocurrency addresses on-line. In a posting on the Incognito web site, LIN wrote “YES, THIS IS AN EXTORTION!!!,” as depicted under.”
