A demonstrator supported Ross Ulbricht, creator and operator of the Silk Road underground market, in entrance of a federal courthouse on Jan. 13, 2015, in New York City.
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James Ellingson allegedly dealt cocaine, LSD, ecstasy and marijuana on Ross Ulbricht’s Silk Road market, and accepted greater than $500,000 price of bitcoin from Ulbricht to hold out a sequence of murders which he may not have accomplished, Manhattan federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Ellingson, who allegedly used the alter egos “redandwhite,” “MarijuanaIsMyMuse” and “Lucydrop” on {the marketplace}, was charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy, narcotics importation conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. If convicted, he might face life in jail.
Federal prosecutors painted Ellingson, 47, as a person who exaggerated his affect and his skills, noting that he “claimed to have management over most drug trafficking in Western Canada.” Ellingson first reached out to Ulbricht in 2013 to debate somebody who had threatened to leak drug trafficker and buyer data, the prosecutors stated.
“I would not thoughts if he was executed,” Ulbricht allegedly wrote to Ellingson. “I want to put a bounty on his head if it isn’t an excessive amount of hassle for you.”
A “clear” kill would value Ulbricht “300k+ USD,” Ellingson allegedly responded. “Prices pay for two skilled hitters together with their journey bills and work they put in.”
Federal prosecutors stated there isn’t any proof that Ellingson ever carried out the murders Ulbricht allegedly paid him for.
“A thumbnail of a deleted {photograph} purporting to depict a person mendacity on a flooring in a pool of blood with tape over his mouth was recovered from Ulbricht’s laptop computer after his arrest,” the prosecutors’ assertion famous.
Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in jail in 2015, has repeatedly insisted he’s harmless. His on-line market was seized and shut down by the FBI in 2013.