Indian pleads guilty to running darknet business in US, losing $150 million

In April 2019, Banmeet Singh was arrested in London and the United States ensured his extradition

Washington:

A 40-year-old Indian citizen extradited from the United Kingdom admitted running a global darknet enterprise that sold “lethal and dangerous drugs to communities across the United States” and agreed to forfeit about $150 million in cryptocurrency.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that according to court documents, Banmeet Singh of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, created a vendor marketing website on a dark web marketplace that sold fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, ketamine and Controlled drugs such as tramadol.

Customers order controlled substances from Banmeet Singh using the supplier’s website and paying via cryptocurrency. Banmeet Singh then personally shipped or arranged for shipment of the drugs from Europe to the United States via U.S. mail or other shipping services, Friday’s news release said.

“Banmeet Singh and drug traffickers like him thought they could operate anonymously on the dark web and evade prosecution… Today’s guilty pleas, including the forfeiture of approximately $150 million in cryptocurrency, demonstrate that the Department of Justice will pursue criminals who violate U.S. laws liability regardless of how they concealed their activities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M Argentieri of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.

From mid-2012 to July 2017, Banmeet Singh controlled at least 8 distribution units in the United States, including distribution units in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, North Dakota, and Washington State. unit.

Personnel in these distribution groups receive drugs from overseas, then repackage and reship the drugs to all 50 states, Canada, England, Ireland, Jamaica, Scotland and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the release said.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Director Anne Milgram said: “Banmeet Singh ran a global darknet enterprise that sent payloads to all 50 U.S. states as well as communities in Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. Fentanyl and other deadly and dangerous drugs.” Data Envelopment Analysis).

During the course of the conspiracy, Singer moved hundreds of kilograms of controlled substances across the United States and established a multimillion-dollar drug enterprise, laundering millions of dollars in drug proceeds into cryptocurrency accounts, ultimately worth approximately $1.5 One hundred million U.S. dollars.

In April 2019, Banmeet Singh was arrested in London, and the United States secured his extradition in 2023.

Banmeet Singh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He faces an agreed-upon eight years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, the release said.

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