Alleged Nemesis Market founder charged by federal grand jury with money laundering, drug distribution

Iranian nationwide Behrouz Parsarad was charged by a federal grand jury on Tuesday for his function in founding and operating a well known darkish net market used to promote medicine and cybercriminal providers. 

In keeping with a Justice Division indictment, the 36-year-old Tehran native launched Nemesis Market in March 2021 and allegedly processed greater than 400,000 orders by way of 2024 that included fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and extra. 

Nemesis Market had greater than 150,000 customers and about 1,100 vendor accounts that provided an array of medicine, stolen monetary data, fraudulent identification paperwork, counterfeit currencies and malware. The Treasury Division mentioned final month that Parsarad “facilitated the sale of almost $30 million value of medicine.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Division mentioned Persaud stays at massive.

Matthew Galeotti, Head of the Justice Division’s Felony Division, mentioned in a press release that U.S. officers labored with German and Lithuanian legislation enforcement to grab servers and different infrastructure with the intention to shut down Nemesis Market in March 2024. Officers in Turkey and the British Virgin Islands additionally assisted with the operation. 

“Nemesis Market, by way of the darknet, was a borderless powerhouse of felony exercise that not solely fueled the drug epidemic, but additionally a large number of unlawful acts with the capability to hurt our residents and destroy our communities,” FBI Cleveland Performing Particular Agent in Cost Charles Johnston added. 

U.S. officers tracked greater than 55,000 orders of methamphetamine, cocaine and crack cocaine alongside about 17,000 orders of opioids. Authorities brokers bought medicine off of Nemesis Market and used labs to verify that they have been mixtures containing fentanyl and different harmful substances. 

Parsarad has been charged with conspiracy to distribute managed substances and distribution of managed substances in addition to cash laundering conspiracy. He’s dealing with a most penalty of life in jail. 

Final month, the Treasury Division sanctioned Parsarad, noting that he has tried to reestablish the platform because it was taken down final 12 months. 

Parsarad allegedly had full management of {the marketplace} and all of its digital forex wallets, incomes cash from charges he charged for every transaction made on the positioning. The Treasury Division believes Parsarad made hundreds of thousands from the positioning and from laundering cryptocurrencies on behalf of trackers and cybercriminals.

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