One of the largest-ever dark web drug-peddling operations — raking in $7.2 million through cryptocurrency exchanges — has been shut down, and its Queens ringleader and four others charged, Manhattan prosecutors said.
In an indictment unsealed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court, prosecutors alleged ringleader Nan Wu of Queens and his accomplices —including a US Postal Service employee — ran a dark web marketplace dubbed FireBunnyUSA that shipped more than 10,000 packages of cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and other drugs to customers in all 50 states and Washington, DC.
The drug peddlers allegedly laundered $7.2 million, including over $3.1 million in proceeds, through cryptocurrency exchanges, prosecutors charged.
Named in the indictment along with Wu were accomplices Peng Peng Tang, Bowen Chen, Zixiang Lin, and USPS employee Katie Montgomery.
“This alleged scheme was a brazen attempt to use the dark web to conceal a national drug trafficking operation. Even though this activity originated on the dark web, it can still lead to the same dangerous drug-related violence in our neighborhoods that we see far too often,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
FireBunny operated from multiple dark web marketplaces from January 2019 to August 2022, describing itself as an “old vendor with the best in QUALITY SPEED OF DELIVERY and STEALTH.”
Wu, 35, originally based operations in Flushing, where more than 10,000 packages were shipped. In April 2022, he moved his operations to Upland, Calif.
Shipments went across the country and into Manhattan.
Between June 2021 and August 2022, undercover Manhattan DA investigators made 11 purchases from FireBunny, including cocaine, MDMA and ketamine, which were shipped to Manhattan, prosecutors said.
Wu’s team helped to ship the packages by purchasing shipping materials and renting U-Hauls and storage facilities, prosecutors said.
Investigators executed a search warrant on Wu’s Flushing apartment in July 2022, when he was arrested and taken into federal custody on an open warrant for prior drug charges, prosecutors said.
In total, the group collected nearly $8 million in bitcoin proceeds. Investigators also found
nearly $900,00 worth of cryptocurrency on Tang’s phone.
Some of the money Wu and others received was laundered by converting Monero — a form of anonymized cryptocurrency.
Montgomery — a Maine resident who surrendered to authorities and was accused of providing advice about importing drugs into the US and checking on the status of packages — pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Friday morning and was released.
Tang, Chen and Lin were expected to be arraigned Friday afternoon. Wu will be arraigned at an unspecified later date
https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/dark-web-drug-leaders-busted-raked-in-7-2m-in-crypto-exchanges/
