One of the darknet market administrators, Hydra’s alleged administrator, has been ordered to forfeit his crypto wallet by a Moscow court. Media reports reveal, however, that the man — who was arrested in Russia in mid-April — is refusing to share access to his presumed crypto stash with Russian law enforcement.
Investigators Fail to Obtain Hydra Market Operator’s Cryptocurrency
The Russian judiciary wants to confiscate what it believes to be a record amount of cryptocurrency from a drug dealer’s crypto wallet, the business daily Kommersant reported this week, quoting a post on the Telegram news channel Mash.
A crypto stash is owned by an alleged co-founder of Hydra Online Marketplace, which, arguably, was the most popular dark internet marketplace. Germany closed it down recently.
Dmitry Olegovich Pavlov, a 30-year-old businessman from Cherepovets, was detained last month on a warrant from the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow and accused of production, sale, and distribution of drugs under Russia’s Criminal Code.
The arrest of the Russian national came just after the U.S. Department of Justice had announced criminal charges against another Russian citizen with similar names, for conspiracy to distribute drugs and money laundering.
According to the report, Pavlov’s wallet was seized with a court order and investigators think it stores hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. However, it is unclear if the state will have the ability to get the coins.
Russian authorities are refusing to allow access to Pavlov’s wallet. It is not known how much digital currency has been stored there. Kommersant reported that Pavlov was cooperative with police and has his computers and phones.
According to the newspaper, Dmitry Pavlov is now the first Hydra operator in history. The platform had been active since at least 2015 and had around 17 million customers before it was busted in early April when German law enforcement seized its server infrastructure and took down the darknet market’s website with support from U.S. agencies.
Do you expect Russian authorities to eventually gain access to Dmitry Pavlov’s crypto wallet? Leave a comment below.
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