The FBI has arrested the founder of Silk Road, perhaps the most notorious online marketplace for illegal products and services.



Ross William Ulbricht, 29, was arrested in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday. Also known as Dread Pirate Roberts, Ulbricht is charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics, computer hacking and money laundering, according to court documents posted by security writer Brian Krebs.



During the more than two years that the online black market is said to have operated, authorities estimate that Silk Road generated over $1.2 billion in sales and $80 million in commissions, paid in the cryptographic currency of Bitcoins.



Silk Road, according to the complaint, offered a variety of illicit goods, including a wide variety of narcotics, hacking tools, forged documents, services for hacking accounts at social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and resources for obtaining stolen account data and for getting in touch with arms dealers and assassins.

 

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