A Vancouver man accused of drug trafficking and cash laundering via an internet site on the darkish net is now preventing extradition to america.
In keeping with the United States District Court, from about November 2011 as much as about September 2013, James Ellingson bought “giant portions of narcotics via the ‘Silk Street’ on-line market beneath the Silk Street usernames ‘MarajuanaIsMyMuse’ (MMIM) and ‘Lucydrop’.”
Beforehand, U.S. prosecutors described Silk Road, which was shut down in 2013, as “an unprecedented one-stop on-line shopping center the place the availability of medication was nearly limitless, enabling almost 4,000 drug sellers to increase their markets from the sidewalk to our on-line world, promoting medicine on a never-before-seen scale to greater than 100,000 consumers in markets stretching from Argentina to Australia, from america to Ukraine.”
Ellingson appeared in Vancouver Supreme Court docket on Monday with the Crown outlining proof that he had entry to a username and password for the web site in his private electronic mail and was a principal operator of the location.
Crown alleged that lately unsealed court docket paperwork from the U.S. present MMIM bought medicine on-line paid for in Bitcoin. The Bitcoin then was despatched allegedly via intermediaries to a crypto change buying and selling account managed by Ellingson.
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The defence argued that there is no such thing as a direct proof of narcotics gross sales via the web site and the information and regulation don’t help the request for extradition.
Finally, if the choose agrees to extradition, it’s the minister of justice and legal professional normal of Canada who will make the ultimate resolution.
Ellingson. 49, is dealing with three counts in U.S. district court docket for drug trafficking and cash laundering.
Silk Street founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in jail in 2015 for working the underground on-line market.
U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Ulbricht on Jan. 21, 2025, writing on his social media platform, Reality Social, “The scum that labored to convict him have been a few of the identical lunatics who have been concerned within the modern-day weaponization of presidency in opposition to me.”
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