Guilty: Peter Nash, Silk Road internet drug ring operator, pleads guilty in NY court

[Jabberwocky]

FORMER Brisbane resident Peter Nash has pleaded guilty in a New York court to drug and money laundering charges through the black market website Silk Road.

The 42-year-old was a moderator on the underground internet bazaar Silk Road, a website that distributed large quantities of heroin, cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine.

Appearing in the Manhattan District Court, Nash confessed that his involvement as a website moderator was partly so he could obtain drugs for his own consumption.

Nash’s guilty plea comes a month after the mastermind of Silk Road, San Francisco-based creator Ross Ulbricht, also known by the alias Dread Pirate Roberts, was found guilty of distributing drugs, computer hacking and money laundering.


He faces life in jail when sentenced on May 15.

Nash says he became aware of Silk Road in 2013 while he was employed as an intellectual disability support worker.

“My motivation was to buy controlled substances for my own use and to socialise,” he said.

Nash was extradited from Australia to the US in June last year. He told the court that police swooped on his home on the day he was set to travel to the UK to propose to his fiance.

Nash has rejected a prosecution plea deal, which means he is rolling the dice on a potential life sentence.

He told the court that while he was aware of the website’s role in moving $US200 million of drugs, he was not involved in their distribution and was employed to moderate the chat room “for scams … and to delete spam”.

He has rejected charges of computer hacking.

Nash said that he was paid between $US25,000 to $US30,000 for his 10-month involvement in Silk Road, much of which was spent on drugs for his personal use.

He sat in court in his prison uniform looking pale and appearing contrite for his crimes.

“I deeply regret my conduct and any offence it might have caused,” he told Judge Thomas Griesa.

Nash has been held in Manhattan Correctional Centre since his extradition from Australia where he returned to after his 40-minute appearance in court.

He will be sentenced in New York on May 26.

Originally published as Aussie ‘Silk Road’ operator guilty

Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...ilty-in-ny-court/story-fni0xqrc-1227262198578

 

[poledriver]

Australian man faces life in prison after pleading guilty to Silk Road role

In a dark, seedy, encrypted corner of the internet visited by drug addicts, traffickers and crime gangs, Australian prison employee Peter Nash was known by a number of aliases.

He was Batman73 or Symmetry.

Others knew him as Samesamebutdifferent.

Sometimes he went as Anonymousass***.

There's a good chance the 41-year-old from Brisbane will be known for much of the rest of his life by a serial number in the US federal prison system.

Nash entered a guilty plea in a Manhattan court on Friday to one count of narcotics conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

He also faces up to 20 years' jail after admitting to one count of money laundering conspiracy.

"I deeply regret my conduct and any consequent harm I caused," Nash told the court.

The former behavioural scientist at Queensland's Wacol Prison was one of the key players involved in Silk Road, a hidden, black market bazaar website where users could buy and sell heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs, fake passports and hire hit men.

The site operated via a Tor network, a system of computers on the internet and distributed around the world designed to conceal the identities of the networks' users who used bitcoins as currency.

Nash's guilty pleas came a month after Ross Ulbricht, the US mastermind behind Silk Road known as Dread Pirate Roberts, was convicted in a Manhattan court for narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Prosecutors allege Silk Road was used by several thousand drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to well over a 100,000 buyers.

Nash, who admitted to earning $US30,000 from his role as the primary moderator on the site's chat room, told the court he used the money to buy drugs for his own personal use.

Nash will be sentenced on May 26.

Ulbricht, 30, also faces life in jail when sentenced on May 15.

Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, praised the Australian Federal Police for their role in Nash's prosecution.


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/...-guilty-to-silk-road-role#TKHcdJMWgzwWxZ9H.99

 

[ro4eva]

This is so wrong when you consider the fact that people in America and around the planet are dropping dead like flies due to the habitual use of Alcoholic Beverages and/or Tobacco/Nicotine Products. And the suppliers of the two aforementioned drugs only receive a slap on the wrist at most in the form of a fine which may seem like a lot, however, it's little more than pocket change for the defendants.

And let's not forget the pharmaceutical giants either.

Again, this is so very wrong. This man is not a danger to society. He prefers other intoxicants and not the legal ones. And because of that, he's fucked - possibly for the rest of his life.

Screw you DEA and everyone else who continues to be pro drug war hypocrites. The world is severely burdened by you parasites.

 

[slimvictor]

^ Agreed.
However, we have to make it clear that they don't really care which drugs he is using - as you said, alcohol and nicotine are pretty strong / dangerous drugs, far mores than the (lovely) hashish pictured in the photo. The government cares about whether they get taxes /profit or not. They didn't get money from him, or the Silk Road, at all, and they hate competition...

 

[cj]

It's fucked up that Australia extradited one of its own citizens to be tried in a foreign country for crimes committed while in Australia.

 

[ro4eva]

It's fucked up that Australia extradited one of its own citizens to be tried in a foreign country for crimes committed while in Australia.

Same shit happened in Canada. Marc 'the Prince of Pot' Emery was handed over to U.S. authorities and served ~4.5 out of a 5 year prison sentence. Apparently - if I recall correctly - he did that time solely for selling Cannabis seeds to US customers.

 

[blistersinthedark]

Sick photoshop job on Ulbricht's teeth. Mouth now matches the eyebrows.

 

[fatstep]

I don't get how he can be guilty of money laundering when the IRS itself deemed bitcoins not a monetary item(forgot exact wording but they basically said bitcoins aren't money) and they should be treated as property such as land... Conveniently disregarding what their own people deemed law for their own agendas... But hey what's new it's the United Slaves of Washington

 

[Jabberwocky]

America is running a empire and unfortunately these drugs are a threat to it's interests. Oh wait got a problem with that? How about I change the law which removes you?

That's what I thought....

What a shit world we live in. The advancements in technology etc have been great but how we are transforming as people gets more rotten by the day or at least those in government are getting more so by the day.

 

[ro4eva]

America is running a empire and unfortunately these drugs are a threat to it's interests. Oh wait got a problem with that? How about I change the law which removes you?

That's what I thought....

What a shit world we live in. The advancements in technology etc have been great but how we are transforming as people gets more rotten by the day or at least those in government are getting more so by the day.

Agreed.

Let's hope that we can see some progress with respect to getting money out of politics, because if that is ever successful at a federal level in the form of 'tough' new laws, I'm confident that we'll end up seeing a significant drop in the number of elected officials who seemingly ignore the majority of their constituents, as well as key campaign promises.

Furthermore, if we can also manage to do away with the grossly overdone exploitations such as Stop 'n Frisk, Asset Forfeiture, and Mandatory Minimums by the law enforcing bureaucrats, it will further undermine the vested interests all these rotten pigs are so attracted to.

Clearly, neither the politicians or their bureaucratic lackeys will give up without a prolonged fight grasping at whatever straws they can grab a hold of and manipulate - just like these booze drinking, tobacco consuming Sheriffs are doing by way of their lawsuit against the legalization and regulation of a fucking plant in the state of Colorado, but I digress.

Even though these past 5 years have been fantastic for drug war / drug policy reform as a whole, there are still those days that pass us by when we continue to read about yet more drug war casualties. Non-violent, otherwise law-abiding men, women and/or children who did not deserve the fate they unfortunately and ultimately met because of the path of death and destruction carved out by trigger happy thugs in uniform who tend to protect only each other and to serve their own self-interests. And when their conduct is publicly questioned or condemned by their superiors, they appear to have no qualms with behaving (in public) like a bunch of insubordinate douchebags.

Case in point: LEOs with the NYPD turning their backs at the mayor of NYC when he was addressing the congregation at the funeral of one of two slain cops. Yes, I understand that they're upset, however, professionalism in the line of duty - regardless of such tragic incidents - shows a level of maturity which is admirable and respectable. And in contrast, what they actually did that day was reminiscent of a bunch of rebellious juveniles who seriously lack self-discipline.

 

[poledriver]

Aussie Silk Road employee avoids jail over role with drug-trafficking site

Queensland prison counsellor Peter Nash has evaded a lengthy sentence in the US, with a judge deciding he has served enough jail time for his part in the global drug-trafficking website, Silk Road.

US District Court judge Thomas Griesa sentenced Nash, 42, to a time-served sentence for his role as the website's moderator.

Nash was facing a life sentence when he was arrested by the FBI and Australian authorities in Queensland in December, 2013.

Prosecutors had asked for between 10 and 12.5 years' jail.

Nash has been in Australian and US jails since his arrest and his lawyers asked for a time-served sentence.

"Mr Nash is hardly the sort of predatory large-scale drug trafficker that policy makers had in mind when formulating the severe penalties in whose cross-hairs he now finds himself," Nash's lawyers, Andrew Frisch and Jeremy Sporn, wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Prosecutors admitted Nash played a relatively minor role in Silk Road, had entered guilty pleas to drug trafficking conspiracy and money laundering charges and had an impressive history helping people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

An undercover operation by US authorities shut Silk Road down on October 2, 2013.

"The website was designed to make conducting illegal transactions on the Internet as easy and frictionless as shopping online at mainstream e-commerce websites," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing submission.

Nash worked as a senior manager of the Forensic Disability Service in Wacol, Queensland, where he helped intellectually-disabled adults in or facing jail and in his off hours was paid $US1,000 ($A1,293) a week as a Silk Road forum moderator.

He didn't sell drugs on the site, but bought cocaine to feed his own addiction.

Silk Road, which used digital bitcoins as currency, had $US17.3 million in sales of cocaine, $US8.9 million in heroin and $US8.1 million in sales of methamphetamine.

San Francisco-based site creator Ross Ulbricht, known as Dread Pirate Roberts, was convicted in February of seven charges, including conspiring to commit drug trafficking and money laundering, and faces a life sentence.


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/...ssie-employee-avoids-jail#tvKZjuUGxWPgqisv.99

 

[Jabberwocky]

Damn you polediver you beat me to it.

 

[slimvictor]

Wow, no more jail time! That is a bit surprising, though very welcome.

He didn't sell drugs on the site, but bought cocaine to feed his own addiction.

Right. He didn't buy cocaine to enjoy it, he bought it to feed his addiction.

People don't drink wine at dinner to feed their addictions, they drink it to enjoy it.

See how easy this game of brainwashing and slant is to play?

 

[sigmond]

I don't get how he can be guilty of money laundering when the IRS itself deemed bitcoins not a monetary item(forgot exact wording but they basically said bitcoins aren't money) and they should be treated as property such as land... Conveniently disregarding what their own people deemed law for their own agendas... But hey what's new it's the United Slaves of Washington

Well once you convert them into a legitimate currency I would assume it would be deemed a monetary item.

Money laundering can be considered profiting from just about any activity the DOJ considers illegal, it's proven to be a law open to interpretation.

Not that it really matters because if you end up in Federal Court you're fucked regardless of whatever evidence they have.