Darknet kingpin forfeits 1,230 BTC and receives 40-year term over $430M illicit market

Dark web drug market operator sentenced to 40 years, forfeits $101 million in bitcoin

A man from Virginia, who facilitated millions of drug transactions worth roughly $430 million, agreed to give up $100 million worth of BTC. His partner forfeited nearly 1,600 BTC.

ByOlivier Acuna|Edited byJamie Crawley
Oct 9, 2026, 5:20 a.m. EDT
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• Raheim Hamilton, a co-creator of the dark web drug platform Empire Market, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and agreed to forfeit 1,230 bitcoin worth about $101 million.
• Prosecutors said Empire Market facilitated more than 4 million drug transactions from 2018 to 2020, with drug sales accounting for nearly $375 million of the site’s more than $430 million in activity.
• Hamilton’s partner, Thomas Pavey, pleaded guilty to a federal drug conspiracy charge and forfeited 1,584 bitcoin and other assets ahead of his sentencing.

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