Alleged Silk Road kingpin slapped with indictment in NY

The man thought to be behind the Silk Road drug bazaar has been indicted in a New York district court, and charged with narcotics conspiracy, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprises, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and money laundering conspiracy.

The charges against Ross William Ulbricht were announced by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement on Tuesday.

Ulbricht is alleged to be the man behind online drugmart The Silk Road – a drug and nefarious services shopping catalog based within the Tor network that used Bitcoins for its transactions.

Ulbricht was arrested in a public library in San Francisco in October for his suspected role as the main operator of the notorious online drug market the Silk Road.

The 12-page indictment reiterates many of the charges made against Ulbricht at the time of his arrest, including allegations that he is behind the online persona the Dread Pirate Roberts, that he set up and managed the Silk Road, and that he solicited six murders-for-hire.

The prosecutors argue that "Silk Road was used by several thousand drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services to well over a hundred thousand buyers".

The investigation remains ongoing.

Though these charges sound severe, Ulbricht so far seems unruffled: according to recent posts to a Facebook page run by his supporters, he has set up a Yoga group in the New York federal facility where he awaits trial. ®