A San Francisco computer programmer accused of running a resurrected version of a black market website known as Silk Road agreed in federal court in the city today to be transferred in custody to New York to face the charges there.
Blake Benthall, 26, was arrested in San Francisco Wednesday by FBI and Homeland Security Department agents and has been in custody since then.
Federal prosecutors claim in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Oct. 29 that between late December and his arrest, Benthall ran an online marketplace known as Silk Road 2.0 that enabled users to buy illegal drugs, false identification, computer hacking tools and money laundering services.
The site — now shut down by the FBI — was “one of the most extensive, sophisticated and widely used criminal marketplaces on the Internet today,” FBI Agent Vincent D’Agostino alleged in the complaint.
The site was allegedly the successor to the first Silk Road website, whose alleged operator, Ross Ulbricht, was also arrested in San Francisco, 13 months ago.
Ulbricht, 30, was arrested in the science fiction section of the Glen Park branch of the San Francisco Public Library on Oct. 1, 2013. He is awaiting a trial in New York in January.
Benthall is charged in the Oct. 29 criminal complaint with four counts of conspiring to commit drug trafficking, conspiring to commit computer hacking, conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification, and conspiring to carry out money laundering.
He was brought to federal court in San Francisco this morning for an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Jacqueline Scott Corley, at which he acknowledged his identity as the person sought in the complaint.
At a second hearing before Corley in early afternoon, Benthall waived a detention hearing, thus clearing the way for his transfer to New York while in custody. Corley ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to transport him “forthwith.”
Outside of court, Assistant Federal Public Defender Daniel Blank, assigned this morning to serve as Benthall’s defense lawyer while he is in California, said that he hopes Benthall will be moved quickly, but it may take several days for marshals to arrange a flight.
Blank said Benthall will seek release on bail after he arrives in New York:
“Once he gets to New York, he’ll be able to make a better pitch as to why he should be released.”
Benthall did not speak during the hearing.
The original Silk Road was shut down after Ulbricht’s arrest, but the complaint alleges that five weeks later, another individual launched a new version of the site with an announcement to users that “Silk Road has risen from the ashes.”
The new operator used the same pseudonym as Ulbricht, Dread Pirate Roberts, and was dubbed DPR2 by the FBI.
D’Agostino wrote that Benthall, using the moniker “Defcon,” emerged as an administrator a week later and took over the site on or around Dec. 28. The complaint alleges that Benthall maintained the hardware and software for the website, managed a small team of online administrators and collected “massive profits generated from the business.”
The site was generating at least $8 million per month in sales and $400,000 in the 5 percent commissions charged as of October, according to the complaint.
The website operated on the Tor network, which makes tracking Internet users extremely difficult by redirecting information through a relay network, according to the FBI. The system allows for the creation of websites hidden from anyone not using the Tor network.
Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 used Bitcoin, an anonymous electronic currency, for payments, according to the FBI. D’Agostino wrote that during the investigation, an underground homeland security agent infiltrated the support staff of the site, gained access to private areas of the website and allegedly interacted directly with Benthall on a regular basis.
If convicted of the narcotics trafficking conspiracy charge, Benthall could face a sentence of up to life in prison. The other charges carry maximum sentences of five to 20 years in prison.
Over the past three years, Benthall has worked as a software engineer for three different California technology companies, according to executives for those companies. One of the jobs, for a space transport company, overlapped with part of the time that Benthall is alleged to have worked on Silk Road 2.0.
John Taylor, a spokesman for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also known as SpaceX, of Hawthorne in Southern California, confirmed that Benthall worked there from Dec. 9, 2013, to Feb. 21, 2014.
Earlier, Benthall worked from December 2012 to March 2013 for Carbon Five, a San Francisco-based web design company, according to CEO Michael Wynholds. Benthall also worked for RPX Corp., a patent risk management company, for a period of time ending in 2012, according to spokesman Allan Whitescarver.
Benthall’s LinkedIn resume lists that time period as August 2011 until November 2012. A Facebook site appearing to belong to Benthall says he is from Houston, Tex.
The LinkedIn site says his first programming job was working as a volunteer webmaster between the ages of 10 and 16 for Texas Odyssey of the Mind, a nonprofit problem-solving competition for students.
The LinkedIn page says Benthall was also a touring singer and keyboardist with a college rock band while attending Florida College, a small Christian college in a Tampa suburb, between September 2007 and July 2008.
Last modified November 7, 2014 1:03 am
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Several months ago the Tesla & Bitcoin fan boys were spamming a bunch of hype about the Tesla that was bought with Bitcoins. Beyond all hype, it seems the truth is that it was bought by a crook with dirty money. The Tesla fan boys have been cheering on & supporting organized crime. The Tesla Mafia.
Blake Benthall is or was an employee of Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX & Tesla Motors). Allegedly some of the laundered money was used to buy a Tesla. Elon Musk is on record making fraudulent claims about Tesla batteries. Elon Musk & his corporate shill lemmings falsely claim that Tesla batteries are non-toxic, nonhazardous, environmentally friendly & landfill safe.
According to TESLA Motors, the high voltage battery (lithium-ion battery) can release toxic vapors; including sulfuric acid, oxides of carbon, nickel, aluminum, lithium, copper, & cobalt.
Tesla fan boys are shills that spams slander, lies, FUD, hate, & ignorance. Tesla fan boys have no credibility & are a laughingstock. lol They ought to be in prisons or/and a mental institutions. They don't want you to believe experts, instead they want you to believe lying, ignorant shills. They have no clue when it comes to science & technology. They are greedy people don't care about the environment, safety or truth.
Tesla fan boys can't handle the truth.. Tesla fan boys fear & hate truth.
A few examples of the hate, ignorance & lies the Tesla Mafia has spammed:
WeaponZero "Lithium ion batteries are non-hazardous in both materials and waste."
WeaponZero "lithium ion batteries(non-toxic)"
WeaponZero "There are no toxic heavy metals in a lithium ion battery"
WeaponZero "lithium ion batteries do not pose risk if they are land filled"
WeaponZero "lithium ion batteries are non-toxic"
WeaponZero "As I mentioned before, heavy metals are not a bad thing just because they are heavy metals. Lithium ion batteries are considered non-toxic. The CEO of BYD even drank one".
WeaponZero "if a battery is discharged and not being used, even if compacted there is no issue."
WeaponZero "landfill fires have nothing to do with lithium ion batteries"
WeaponZero "I have done way more research on manufacturing of batteries and heavy metals than you."
Peter Gordon "Tesla batteries are 100% non-toxic"
Peter Gordon "Tesla batteries are 100% non-toxic and declared completely safe for landfill."
Peter Gordon "Tesla lithium ion cells contain no heavy metals, nor any toxic materials."
WeaponZero "To note, 0 Tesla batteries exploded."
WeaponZero "There is 0 Tesla cars at risk of fire."
WeaponZero "Actually, those things you see flickering are not battery cells but fireworks."
grendal "the car didn't explode"
grendal "no car has ever exploded"
grendal "You also said the car exploded (it did not) and released toxic fumes when neither happened."
NΘΘR "This is not even an explosion."
CMCNestT . "The battery did not explode."
sranger "False, they are fireworks (4th of July after all)"
Albertico "The car did not explode at all"
strata8 "Did not explode."
Tesla755 "No batteries exploded"
stopcrazypp "It didn't actually explode"
stopcrazypp "the amount of gas expelled is not enough to act like a rocket and carry a cell two stories high"
Xixo "Teslas were actually not explosions"
Dave_SRQ "There haven't been any Tesla Model S recalls."
WeaponZero "For this to happen to a lithium ion battery is extremely rare, though more common with lithium polymer batteries."
(WeaponZero doesn't know that lithium polymer is a type of lithium ion battery) lol
The facts show that Teslas have exploded.
Google:
"Photos: Stolen Tesla Splits In Half And Explodes After Crashing In West Hollywood"
"The Tesla's lithium battery exploded into flames that shot up several stories into the air"
"Video shot from a nearby apartment showed burning lithium batteries popping and sending fiery debris more than three stories into the air"
"A stolen Tesla speeding up La Brea Avenue at up to 100 miles per hour was sliced in half, and its lithium batteries exploded and burned, in a crash that injured at least six people today"
"Tesla Model S Explodes After Accident in Mexico"
The facts are that Tesla batteries are toxic; despite the fraudulent claims by Elon Musk & Tesla shills.
On page 18 of the 2012-2013 emergency responder guide for the Tesla model S. There are sections on firefighting & fire damage related to the high voltage battery; indicating that the battery can release toxic vapors. Including sulfuric acid, oxides of carbon, nickel, aluminum, lithium, copper & cobalt.
The leaking chemicals can be so dangerous, that it seems to suggest evacuating civilians from the proximity of a Tesla battery fire & it's plume of toxic fumes. Emergency responders should wear full protective gear & self-contained breathing equipment to protect themselves from the toxic materials from the Tesla battery.