FBI busts operator of Silk Road, seizes $3.6M in Bitcoins
The FBI arrested Ross Ulbricht, the owner and operator of "Silk Road," an underground website that allegedly generated close to $1.2 billion in revenue in the past 30 months by trafficking in illegal drugs, malware tools, hacking services and other illicit items.
Law enforcement also seized close to 26,000 Bitcoins worth an estimated $3.6 million from Ulbricht. He was arrested Tuesday in San Francisco on charges of narcotics trafficking, computer hacking conspiracy and money laundering. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco today.
Court documents filed in connection with the arrest described Ulbricht, 29, as a 2006 graduate of the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in physics. Ulbricht apparently also was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Material Science and Engineering before he dropped out to start Silk Road.
