UK Court Sentences Silk Road 2.0 Operator

Thomas White, who managed Silk Road 2.0 after the original Silk Road was shut down and its founder Ross Ulbricht was arrested, has been sentenced by the Liverpool Crown Court in the United Kingdom. White received five years and four months in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering, and possession of child pornography.

Background on Thomas White and Silk Road 2.0

According to the UK’s National Crime Agency, 24-year-old Thomas White, a former university student, operated the Silk Road 2.0 website from November 2013 to March 2014. White held a high-ranking position in the original Silk Road marketplace, and after the FBI seized its servers and arrested Ross Ulbricht in 2013, White took over the management of Silk Road 2.0.

One of White’s online aliases was “Dread Pirate Roberts,” a name also frequently used by Ulbricht. While the original operator received two life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole, White’s sentence is considered relatively lenient in comparison.

Financial Impact and Illegal Activities

It is difficult to determine exactly how much money White earned while running Silk Road 2.0. Police estimate that the site charged a commission of 1-5% on each transaction. In total, illegal goods worth approximately $96 million were sold through Silk Road 2.0.

The site initially specialized in the sale of Class A and B drugs, counterfeit goods, hacking tools, and more. However, White also began compiling a catalog of child pornography images, which was discovered on his laptop during a police search. Authorities also found stolen data from the FBI, NASA, Ashley Madison, TalkTalk, and other sources on his device.