Monopoly Market Admin Pleads Guilty
~2 min read | Published on 2023-11-09, tagged Market-admin, Pleaded-Guilty using 295 words.
A Serbian man pleaded guilty to drug trafficking offenses stemming from his role in the administration of the now-defunct dark web marketplace, Monopoly Market.
According to court documents, 33-year-old Milomir Desnica admitted to the conspiracy to develop and run Monopoly Market from 2019 till its seizure by German and Finnish authorities in December 2021.
The seizure of the market's servers gave law enforcement agencies access to the transactions that took place through the market. While reviewing the market's data, the FBI reportedly identified the bitcoin addresses used by Monopoly's admins to receive vendor payments.
The investigators identified a Bitcoin address that had received payment from Monopoly in July 2020, and that had also received two bitcoin deposits from an undisclosed cryptocurrency exchange.
On April 6, 2022, the exchange provided information to the FBI proving that the account that sent bitcoin to the address belonged to Desnica. A search of the Google account used to create the account on the exchange led to the discovery of seed phrases of bitcoin wallets associated with Monopoly Market administrators.
In November 2022, Austrian authorities in Vienna arrested Desnica and searched his home. The search resulted in the seizure of electronic devices and approximately 18,250 Euros in cash. In one of the seized electronic devices, the investigators found a crypto wallet that contained approximately 0.2023 ETH and 866 USDT.
Austrian authorities extradited Desnica to the US in June 2023. He was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
On November 8, 2023, Desnica pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. In addition to pleading guilty, Desnica agreed to forfeit the cash and crypto seized during his arrest.
Monopoly Market seizure banner
According to court documents, 33-year-old Milomir Desnica admitted to the conspiracy to develop and run Monopoly Market from 2019 till its seizure by German and Finnish authorities in December 2021.
The seizure of the market's servers gave law enforcement agencies access to the transactions that took place through the market. While reviewing the market's data, the FBI reportedly identified the bitcoin addresses used by Monopoly's admins to receive vendor payments.
The investigators identified a Bitcoin address that had received payment from Monopoly in July 2020, and that had also received two bitcoin deposits from an undisclosed cryptocurrency exchange.
On April 6, 2022, the exchange provided information to the FBI proving that the account that sent bitcoin to the address belonged to Desnica. A search of the Google account used to create the account on the exchange led to the discovery of seed phrases of bitcoin wallets associated with Monopoly Market administrators.
In November 2022, Austrian authorities in Vienna arrested Desnica and searched his home. The search resulted in the seizure of electronic devices and approximately 18,250 Euros in cash. In one of the seized electronic devices, the investigators found a crypto wallet that contained approximately 0.2023 ETH and 866 USDT.
Austrian authorities extradited Desnica to the US in June 2023. He was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
On November 8, 2023, Desnica pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. In addition to pleading guilty, Desnica agreed to forfeit the cash and crypto seized during his arrest.
