Counterfeit Adderall Pills Vendor "Cardingmaster" Sentenced
~2 min read | Published on 2023-12-19, tagged Counterfeits, Darkweb-Vendor, Sentenced using 471 words.
A Texas man was sentenced to 210 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of counterfeit Adderall pills through the dark web.
Kevin Olando Ombisi, 34, distributed the counterfeit Adderall pills through the vendor profile "Cardingmaster" on the now-defunct Empire market and Wickr.
The investigations that resulted in Ombisi's conviction were part of Operation Dark HunTor. Operation Dark HunTor was based on intelligence acquired by LE from the takedown of DarkMarket in January 2021. The operation resulted in the arrest of 150 vendors worldwide.
During the investigations, the investigators made three undercover purchases from Cardingmaster via the Empire market. They also made seven purchases from the vendor through Wickr. Tests revealed that the pills purchased by the investigators contained meth.
The investigators established that Cardingmaster used postage purchased from an undisclosed Postage Reseller. The postage reseller revealed that the postage was purchased through an account registered to Ombisi.
Investigators conducting surveillance observed Ombisi mailing packages at different post offices in Houston. The packages Ombisi mailed included some addressed to addresses used by the investigators during the undercover purchases.
The investigators then traced the bitcoin used to make payments during purchases made through Wickr. Blockchain analysis led the investigators to two accounts on an undisclosed P2P exchange registered to Ombisi.
One of the accounts had received approximately 10.36513 bitcoin between October 04, 2019, and October 12, 2019. The second account had received 189.4114 bitcoin, between October 16, 2019, and June 01, 2020. The accounts had been accessed on several occasions from an IP address assigned to Ombisi's accomplice, Eric B. Russell, Jr.
In April 2020, the investigators acquired a search warrant for an iCloud account associated with a phone number used by Ombisi. The investigators recovered a chat between Ombisi and a contact saved as "Yoyo." Ombisi and Yoyo were discussing how Ombisi would acquire mailing supplies for his orders.
Information acquired from AT&T revealed that the phone number associated with Yoyo was registered to Russell.
A search of Russell's iCloud account resulted in the discovery of a photo of a PC screen displaying the security mnemonic phrase of an Empire Market account.
In September 2020, the investigators searched Ombisi's iCloud again and recovered a conversion between him and a contact saved as "Big Bro." The two were discussing the creation of a new LocalBitcoins account. The contact Big Bro was associated with the number registered to Russel.
The arrest of Ombisi and Russel reportedly resulted in the seizure of $5 million in assets linked to the drug trafficking operation. The duo was charged with multiple drug trafficking offenses, money laundering and mail fraud in a 10-count indictment filed on February 25, 2021.
Ombisi pled guilty in July 2023.
In addition to 17 years and six months in prison, U.S. District Court Judge Mark S. Norris sentenced Ombisi to three years of supervised release on Deceber 18, 2023.
Kevin Olando Ombisi, 34, distributed the counterfeit Adderall pills through the vendor profile "Cardingmaster" on the now-defunct Empire market and Wickr.
The investigations that resulted in Ombisi's conviction were part of Operation Dark HunTor. Operation Dark HunTor was based on intelligence acquired by LE from the takedown of DarkMarket in January 2021. The operation resulted in the arrest of 150 vendors worldwide.
During the investigations, the investigators made three undercover purchases from Cardingmaster via the Empire market. They also made seven purchases from the vendor through Wickr. Tests revealed that the pills purchased by the investigators contained meth.
The investigators established that Cardingmaster used postage purchased from an undisclosed Postage Reseller. The postage reseller revealed that the postage was purchased through an account registered to Ombisi.
Investigators conducting surveillance observed Ombisi mailing packages at different post offices in Houston. The packages Ombisi mailed included some addressed to addresses used by the investigators during the undercover purchases.
The investigators then traced the bitcoin used to make payments during purchases made through Wickr. Blockchain analysis led the investigators to two accounts on an undisclosed P2P exchange registered to Ombisi.
One of the accounts had received approximately 10.36513 bitcoin between October 04, 2019, and October 12, 2019. The second account had received 189.4114 bitcoin, between October 16, 2019, and June 01, 2020. The accounts had been accessed on several occasions from an IP address assigned to Ombisi's accomplice, Eric B. Russell, Jr.
In April 2020, the investigators acquired a search warrant for an iCloud account associated with a phone number used by Ombisi. The investigators recovered a chat between Ombisi and a contact saved as "Yoyo." Ombisi and Yoyo were discussing how Ombisi would acquire mailing supplies for his orders.
Information acquired from AT&T revealed that the phone number associated with Yoyo was registered to Russell.
A search of Russell's iCloud account resulted in the discovery of a photo of a PC screen displaying the security mnemonic phrase of an Empire Market account.
In September 2020, the investigators searched Ombisi's iCloud again and recovered a conversion between him and a contact saved as "Big Bro." The two were discussing the creation of a new LocalBitcoins account. The contact Big Bro was associated with the number registered to Russel.
The arrest of Ombisi and Russel reportedly resulted in the seizure of $5 million in assets linked to the drug trafficking operation. The duo was charged with multiple drug trafficking offenses, money laundering and mail fraud in a 10-count indictment filed on February 25, 2021.
Ombisi pled guilty in July 2023.
In addition to 17 years and six months in prison, U.S. District Court Judge Mark S. Norris sentenced Ombisi to three years of supervised release on Deceber 18, 2023.
