Silk Road moderator "Samesamebutdifferent" pleads guilty, faces life in prison
Australian Peter Nash, 42, pled guilty in a US District Court last week to charges of conspiracy to commit narcotics trafficking and money laundering. Both charges come from Nash's one-time role within the Silk Road online drug marketplace.
The plea was entered in the Southern District of New York roughly one month after Ross Ulbricht was convicted on federal charges accusing him of being the mastermind behind Silk Road. Nash went by monikers such as "Samesamebutdifferent," "Batman73," "Symmetry," or "Anonymousasshit" according to court documents, and he worked as a forum moderator for 10 months.
"The forum moderators were responsible for, among other things, monitoring user activity on discussion forums associated with the site, providing guidance to forum users concerning how to conduct business on Silk Road, and reporting any significant problems discussed on the forms to site administrators and to Ulbricht," according to court documents. Salaries for such a position ranged from approximately $50,000 to $75,000 per year, and Nash held the role from January 2013 to October 2013.
