Empire Market co-creator sentenced to 40 years in prison

Raheim Hamilton, co-creator and operator of the dark web marketplace Empire Market, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for facilitating $430 million in illegal transactions from 2018 to 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hamilton, 30, also known online as “Sydney” and “ZeroAngel,” operated the marketplace from August 2017 until it shut down in 2020. The site was modeled on AlphaBay, where Hamilton sold goods under the “ZeroAngel” name between June 2016 and July 2017. Co-defendant Thomas Pavey, known as “Dopenugget,” also helped run Empire Market; he pleaded guilty to a federal drug conspiracy charge last year.

The two facilitated more than 4 million transactions. Drug sales were the marketplace’s most prevalent activity, totaling nearly $375 million, with more than 166,000 controlled-substance listings. At its August 2020 peak, Empire Market had roughly 1.68 million registered users, including more than 5,000 vendors and nearly 360,000 buyers.

Hamilton admitted that the site was designed to help users evade law enforcement and launder money. Transactions used cryptocurrency. The Justice Department said the site listed fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin. Authorities had seized $75 million in cryptocurrency during the investigation, announced when the defendants were charged in July 2024. Hamilton also agreed to forfeit three Virginia properties, about 1,230 bitcoin, and 24.4 Ether. Pavey’s sentencing is scheduled for later this month.