Stanislav Moiseev, founder of the online black market and crypto mixing service Hydra, which took in over $5 billion worth of crypto during its operation, was sentenced to life in prison by a Russian court.
A Moscow Regional Court found Moiseev and 15 accomplices guilty of organizing a criminal community and illegally producing and selling psychotropic substances and drugs, according to a Dec. 2 statement from the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office.
Sentences handed down to Moiseev’s accomplices ranged from eight to 23 years.
Moiseev was also fined $38,100 (4 million rubles), while his accomplices were ordered to pay a combined $152,400.
Properties and vehicles were also seized as part of the sentencing orders.
Those convicted will serve their sentences in correctional colonies under “strict regimes,” Russian state-owned media outlet TASS reported.
Scenes from the Hydra sentencing in a Moscow court. Source: TASS
Hydra was once the world’s largest darknet marketplace, accounting for 80% of all darknet-related crypto transactions in 2021 and taking in over $5.2 billion in crypto between its launch in 2015 and its takedown in 2022, according to the United States Justice Department.
It was notorious for selling stolen credit card data, counterfeit currencies and fake identity documents.
Hydra’s crypto volumes on exchanges surged 624% year-over-year between 2018 and 2020 as its criminal operations became more sophisticated, according to a May 2021 report from blockchain security firm Flashpoint, which has since teamed up with TRM Labs.
German authorities shut it down in April 2022, taking control of its Bitcoin (BTC) and servers, which were based there. They reported that the service had 17 million customers and 19,000 vendor accounts. German law enforcement also seized almost a ton of narcotics and psychotropic substances.
Related: India cracks down on darknet drug deals using crypto tracking
Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs had been investigating Hydra since 2016.
Other Hydra members sentenced included Alexander Chirkov, Andrei Trunov, Evgeny Andreev, Ivan Koryakin, Vadim Krasninsky, Georgy Kierobiani, Artur Kolesnikov, Nikolai Bilyk, Alekandr Kabalina, Mikhail Dombrovkogo, Alexander Aminova and Sergey Czech.
The sentences are subject to appeals.
Darknet marketplaces reaped revenue of at least $1.7 billion in 2023 — rising further from 2022 when Hydra was shut down, according to a report earlier this year from Chainalysis.
Magazine: THORChain founder and his plan to ‘vampire attack’ all of DeFi