Hamilton Gets 40 Years for $430M Empire Market Dark Web Operation — SkimNews
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- Raheim Hamilton, co-creator of Empire Market, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and fined $5 million by U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger, after pleading guilty to a drug conspiracy charge.
- Empire Market facilitated more than 4 million transactions worth over $430 million from 2018 to 2020, with drug sales totaling nearly $375 million — including at least 13.3 kilograms of fentanyl, 447 kilograms of cocaine, and 103 kilograms of heroin.
- Hamilton and co-creator Thomas Pavey required every transaction in cryptocurrency and encouraged users to run funds through tumbling and mixing services, while letting buyers rate vendors on how well they concealed shipped drugs.
- Hamilton agreed to forfeit approximately 1,230 BTC and 24.4 ETH, plus three properties in Virginia.
- Co-creator Thomas Pavey pleaded guilty last year and is due to be sentenced by Seeger later this month; he agreed to forfeit about 1,584 BTC, two boxes of 25-ounce gold bars, three cars, and two Florida properties.
- Empire Market launched in February 2018 after the AlphaBay takedown and went offline in August 2020 in what users believed was a $30 million exit scam, per blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs.
- Rui-Siang Lin, who ran darknet drug bazaar Incognito Market, was sentenced to 30 years in February over a platform that handled more than $105 million in narcotics sales — part of a broader DOJ crackdown on crypto-native drug bazaars.
Why it matters: The 40-year sentence — paired with a $5 million fine and forfeiture of roughly 1,230 BTC plus three Virginia properties — sets a benchmark for co-creator Thomas Pavey's upcoming sentencing and signals continued aggressive federal prosecution of crypto-only darknet bazaars that collectively moved hundreds of millions in narcotics.
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