Blake Benthall, one of the managers of the Silk Road 2.0 drug market, which used Defcon as a pseudonym, can only be prosecuted for tax crimes in exchange for their cooperation with the authorities.
The above news marks the first real picture of Benthall's fate after his arrest and the seizure of Silk Road 2.0 the 2014. The website appeared shortly after the original Silk Road was shut down by the FBI and its creator arrested Ross Ulbricht.
Using the anonymous Tor network to protect the position of its servers and users, Silk Road 2.0 provided drug traffickers with a relatively secure platform for selling heroin, cocaine, cannabis and other illicit drugs.
Apart from drugs the “store” had everything from fake passports, to fake degrees and weapons. During its run, the site processed approximately $400.000 in sales per day.
Benthall was charged with drug trafficking, computer piracy and money laundering, according to court records.
A drug trafficking conspiracy can result in at least ten years in prison.
Ulbricht for example sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the creation of the first Silk Road, which included drug trafficking, the creation of a criminal organization and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of illicit activities.
Benthall is unlikely to face all of these charges, according to reports has the Motherboard. Benthall was a programmer software and former employee of SpaceX.
"If the defendant fully complies with the agreements set forth in this Convention, he will not be prosecuted further by the FBI for crimes other than breaches of criminal law."
The path that Benthall followed is of course in stark contrast to his other Silk Road 2.0 partners who did not cooperate with the authorities.
In 2016, the US convicted Brian Farrell, (alias DoctorClu) the coordinator of Forums, with eight years in prison. Last month, Benthall's partner and the original creator of Silk Road 2.0, Thomas White, was sentenced to five years in prison in Liverpool, England.
