Empire Market co-creator gets 40 years in US prison
Raheim Hamilton, the co-creator of the dark web marketplace Empire Market, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. Between 2018 and 2020, the site processed $430 million in illegal transactions.
Hamilton is 30 years old and used the online handles "Sydney" and "ZeroAngel." He owned and ran Empire Market from August 2017 until 2020. That year the site shut down without warning after repeated waves of DDoS attacks tied to extortion. Users had no chance to withdraw funds held in escrow, which led to accusations that the operators had pulled an exit scam.