Thomas White launched a new version of the darknet marketplace after Ross Ulbricht was arrested.
A British man who played an instrumental role in the operation of the Silk Road darknet marketplace has been ordered to hand over Bitcoin worth $670,000.
Thomas White operated under the username Cthulhu.
The first version of Silk Road was taken down after Ross Ulbricht was arrested — but the U.K.’s National Crime Agency said White launched another version of the illegal site just one month later.
This allowed users to anonymously buy and sell drugs like cocaine, as well as a range of other illegal goods, using Bitcoin.
White had dropped out of university and managed to pay $23,000 upfront in order to rent an apartment on Liverpool’s waterfront in the North of England.
He was jailed for almost five-and-a-half years in 2019 after pleading guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and making 464 indecent images of children.
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‘Crime Doesn’t Pay’
With White still in prison, a confiscation hearing has been held.
A judge ordered the criminal to hand over his Bitcoin — and all of his electronic devices have also been confiscated.
Tyrone Surgeon, a branch commander at the National Crime Agency, said:
“Thomas White was a well-regarded member of the original Silk Road hierarchy. He used this to his advantage when the original site was closed down and profited significantly from his criminal activity. This has been a complex, international investigation and highlights that we will use every tool at our disposal to disrupt organised criminals from profiting from their crime.”
