Since 2013, Prihar and co-defendant Michael Phan owned and operated DeepDotWeb (DDW), a news site that also connected Internet users to dark web marketplaces where they could buy illegal malware, firearms, stolen financial data , hacking tools, fentanyl, heroin and others. illicit materials. Both Prihar and Phan are Israeli citizens and it is understood that they linked users to illegal darknet markets, Prihar and Phan are said to have received around $8.4 million in Bitcoin bribes.
It appears that in order to hide the nature and origin of these illegal bribes, Prihar transferred payments from his DDW bitcoin wallet to other bitcoin accounts and bank accounts he controlled on behalf of a shell company.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in coordination with police in Israel, Brazil, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, seized the DeepDotWeb domain in May 2019, The Verge reported. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office.
Prihar, who was arrested in Brazil, pleaded guilty in March 2021, while Phan remains in Israel and is currently in extradition proceedings, the US Justice Department said. With the ruling, the US court is likely to set a precedent that not only darknet operators, but also those who facilitate access to such markets, must face the law. If any website gives users access to contraband and gets paid for it, it’s likely to go under the FBI’s radar.
