US Sentences Empire Market Co-Creator Over $430 Million Criminal Marketplace

The article reports that Raheim Hamilton, co-creator of the Empire Market dark web marketplace, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and fined $5 million after admitting to operating a platform that handled over $430 million across more than four million illicit transactions (2018–2020). Empire Market enabled anonymous trade in drugs, stolen credentials, personal data, counterfeit currency and hacking tools, used cryptocurrencies (BTC, XMR, LTC) with tumbling services and escrow, and had vendor rating systems; law enforcement seized significant cryptocurrency and assets and previously charged Hamilton and co-operator Thomas Pavey.