TL;DR: Sky Justin Gornik was sentenced recently by a federal judge to more than five years in prison, and forced to forfeit millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies such as BTC, Stratis, Ethereum, Monero, in connection with his participation in what US law enforcement characterized as an illegal drug and money laundering case involving the dark web.

Millions in BTC, Stratis, Ethereum, Monero Seized by US Feds

Underground sites such as Alpha Bay, Trade Route, Abraxas, Evolution, Outlaw Market, and Dream Market were where Gornik of San Diego, California (39) was a vendor, buying and selling controlled substances, according to the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of California. In the United States, politicians are keen to emphasize the country as under the spell of an opioid epidemic.

“Specifically, Gornik admitted that he purchased and sold fentanyl and purchased the especially deadly opiate carfentanil using a variety of digital currencies,” they allege. “Gornik also purchased and sold multiple other controlled substances, including thousands of vials of ketamine, oxycodone pills, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), Psilocybin and Psilocin, Amphetamine, Buprenorphine, Methamphetamine, and Naloxone.”

He also pled to the launder of gains from his trade into cryptocurrency, which is probably what made his deal newsworthy enough to enter the dubious realm of press releases. Crimes, as US authorities define them, were committed by Gornik from 2014 through 2017. Interestingly, they were sure to highlight the exact number seized of privacy coin Monero.

“As part of his guilty plea, Gornik agreed to forfeit millions of dollars in digital or crypto currency including Bitcoins, Stratis, Ethereum, 2350 Monero,” all of which appear to have been kept on exchanges such as Bittrex accounts and Poloniex. Involved in the bust were US Postal Inspectors, Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and other affiliated agencies as part the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The two counts to which he pled initially carried a 10 year minimum mandatory to life, a fine of $1,000,000, 5 years of supervised release (drugs trafficking), and 20 years, a fine of $500,000, and 3 years of supervised release (launder).

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.

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