European and American investigators have broken up one of the world’s largest online criminal marketplaces for drugs, hacking tools and financial-theft wares a series of raids in the United States and Germany, authorities said Friday.
BERLIN — European and American investigators have broken up one of the world’s largest online criminal marketplaces for drugs, hacking tools and financial-theft wares a series of raids in the United States and Germany, authorities said Friday.
Three German men, ages 31,22 and 29, were arrested after the raids in three southern states on allegations they operated the so-called « Wall Street Market » darknet platform, which hosted some 5,400 sellers and more than 1 million customer accounts, Frankfurt prosecutor Georg Ungefuk told reporters in Wiesbaden.
A Brazilian man, the site’s alleged moderator, was also charged.
The three Germans, identified in U. S. court documents as Tibo Lousee, Jonathan Kalla and Klaus-Martin Frost, face drug charges in Germany on allegations they administrated the platform where cocaine, heroin and other drugs, as well as forged documents and other illegal material were sold.
They have also been charged in the United States with conspiring to launder money and distribute illegal drugs, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court.
« The charges filed in Germany and the United States will significantly disrupt the illegal sale of drugs on the darknet, » Assistant U. S. Attorney Ryan White told reporters in Germany. « We believe that Wall Street Market recently became the world’s largest darknet marketplace for contraband including narcotics, hacking tools, illegal services and stolen financial data. »
Ungefuk said Wall Street Market was at least the second biggest, refusing to name others for fear of jeopardizing other investigations.
