TL;DR: The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced Roger Thomas Clark plead guilty “to one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics” for his involvement in Silk Road. Clark faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He is alleged to have been the notorious “Variety Jones” handle associated closely with the online black marketplace, advocating murder-for-hire retaliatory measures, authorities claimed.

Silk Road Guilty Plea: Roger Thomas Clark Faces 20 Years in Prison

“As he admitted today,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman explained, “Roger Thomas Clark was a central figure in helping to lead Silk Road and in advocating violence to protect the site. Clark even went so far as to urge, and facilitate, the attempted killing of a co-conspirator suspected of stealing from Silk Road.”

Clark’s personal saga with US law enforcement has gone on for nearly half a decade. According to voluminous court documentation, the DOJ has sought Clark, a Canadian, since at least April of 2015 and from as far away as Thailand, where he was arrested months later and imprisoned for three years before being extradited to the United States in summer of 2018. During that time, Clark gave interviews to the likes of Vice and Ars Technica, seemingly taunting US authorities even while in custody.

He touted his personal security acumen at foiling police attempts to find incriminating evidence, and seemed to insist upon a legal strategy of attrition, urging courts to give his lawyers more time in preparing. Depending upon the analyst, it seems to have worked by way of comparison. Ross Ulbricht, the supposed Silk Road mastermind to whom Clark is alleged to have been a “senior advisor,” ultimately received life in prison without the possibility of parole. With time served, Clark’s total time behind bars will be considerably less.

In the 2015 press release of Clark’s arrest, officials referred to Clark as Ulbricht’s “mentor,” who “counseled Ulbricht on the improvement and expansion of Silk Road’s technical infrastructure, including helping Ulbricht hire and manage a computer programmer to assist with these projects. CLARK also helped Ulbricht develop and enforce the rules governing how Silk Road vendors and users could do business on the site, which were designed to maximize the commissions that Ulbricht received from Silk Road sales. CLARK further advised Ulbricht on how to conceal his involvement in, and hide his profits from, the operation of Silk Road, including helping Ulbricht devise cover stories to tell others and make plans to obtain foreign citizenship and offshore bank accounts. Finally, CLARK also advised Ulbricht on tactics to thwart efforts by law enforcement to investigate Silk Road.”

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