Security News > 2021 > April > Administrator of Dark Web Portal Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering
An Israeli national has pleaded guilty to his role in operating DeepDotWeb, a website that functioned as a gateway to various Dark Web marketplaces, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
The man, Tal Prihar, 37, together with co-defendant Michael Phan, 34, of Israel, owned and operated DeepDotWeb between October 2013 and May 2019, when the website was seized by authorities.
DDW provided information on Dark Web marketplaces, including interviews and reviews on portals where visitors could purchase illegal firearms, malicious software, financial data, drugs, and other contraband.
According to court documents, the website generated revenue through an affiliate marketing model: DDW received more than $8 million in kickback payments from the Dark Web marketplaces that it was advertising and directly linking to.
Prihar, who admitted in court to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, is scheduled for sentencing on August 2.
"Tal Prihar served as a broker for illegal Darknet marketplaces - helping such marketplaces find customers for fentanyl, firearms, and other dangerous contraband - and profited from the illegal business that ensued," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.
News URL
Related news
- Six banks share customer info to help Singapore fight money laundering (source)
- Dark Web Monitoring: What's the Value? (source)
- Cheap ransomware for sale on dark web marketplaces is changing the way hackers operate (source)
- Bitcoin Forensic Analysis Uncovers Money Laundering Clusters and Criminal Proceeds (source)
- Russian Operator of BTC-e Crypto Exchange Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering (source)
- Dell customer order database of '49M records' stolen, now up for sale on dark web (source)
- What Is the Dark Web? (source)
- Dutch Court Sentences Tornado Cash Co-Founder to 5 Years in Prison for Money Laundering (source)
- Owner of Incognito dark web drugs market arrested in New York (source)