When the Silk Road platform got shut down by law enforcement, several arrests have been made throughout the years. One of the platform moderators was known as SSBD. His real name is Peter Phillip Nash, and after an 18-month sentence, he got released from prison earlier this week.
Interestingly enough, the court convicted the former Silk Road moderator to a much shorter sentence than people had expected. Charges of money laundering and conspiring to traffic drugs are subject to a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. However, the court deemed him a “minor cog in the machine’ of Silk Road, despite his role as a platform administrator.
Silk Road Moderator Finished Jail Sentence
Interestingly enough, Nash decided to plead guilty to trafficking drugs and money laundering through the Silk Road platform. Charges were filed back in December of 2013 after Nash admitted to his involvement in the Silk Road website. After facing some hardship at his regular job, he also purchased drugs for his own use.
Among the roles Nash filled were actively moderating a chat forum about this infamous dark net marketplace. No drugs were sold through this particular forum, though, as it had no official ties to Silk Road itself. However, there were various discussion threads on this forum regarding the marketplace.
This challenging task earned Nash some Bitcoin over the course of ten months being on the job. Once his paychecks started coming in, he used it to buy drugs for his own consumption from Silk Road vendors. At the same time, he was acutely aware of where his wage was coming from, as all proceeds were paid by the Silk Road administrator team.
Most people are well aware how this notorious dark net marketplace operated. Buyers and sellers could sell anything they wanted through the Tor-protected platform, and Bitcoin was the main currency used throughout the years. By offering an escrow service, the operators of Silk Road could earn a bit of money on the side, and pay their staffers, including Peter Phillip Nash.
In a way, Nash was partially responsible for money laundering, as he was paid in funds coming from the Silk Road platform. However, since he never sold drugs to others, or actively participated in laundering the money himself, a lighter jail sentence seemed appropriate. There is also no indication Nash had any idea as to how much money was being moved across the Silk Road platform.
Source: Deep Dot Web
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