Czech police arrest infamous darknet operator in Bitcoin-for-favors scandal

The man behind Sheep Marketplace, a late Hub Darknet, is now faced with new accusations after having allegedly channeled $ 45 million in Bitcoin officials from the Czech officials of the Ministry of Justice. Prosecutors confirm that the probe covers money laundering and illegal drug operations, reporting a complex criminal web.

According to a premises report From Deník N, Czech police stormed the Břeclav residence of Tomáš Jiřikovský Thursday evening, holding drug trafficking sentenced after an attempted leak on the roof. The raid followed months of examination in a 468 bitcoin (BTC) Don, worth around $ 45 million at the time, that Jiřikovský would have made the Ministry of Justice earlier this year.

The chief prosecutor Radim Dragoun confirmed that the operation targeted suspicions of money laundering and drug trafficking, investigators entering evidence linked both to the donation and the Darknet of Jiřikovský.

From Darknet’s profits to political influence: unpack the Bitcoin program of Jiřikovský

The arrest of Tomáš Jiřikovský represents more than another Darknet operator confronted with justice. He explains to what extent the illicit cryptographic wealth has tried to infiltrate the highest levels of Czech governance.

According to court documents from his 2017 trial, Jiřikovský amassed his Bitcoin fortune through a sheep market, an underground platform that facilitated more than 680 BTC in drug sales before closing it suddenly in 2013. In a cheeky outing scam, he would have siphoneed an additional controversy of 841 BTC.

A conviction that has not been stuck

Despite a sentence of nine years in prison in 2017 for embezzlement, drug trafficking and possession of illegal weapons, Jiřikovský served only half of his mandate before being released in 2021. The Czech authorities have never recovered most of his Bitcoin titles, a failure that now haunts the judicial system while these same documents reveal in government chests.

The donation of 468 BTC, drawn by blockchain analysts to portfolios linked to Nucleus Marketplace, another Darknet operation, arrived at a politically sensitive moment. While the national elections approached, the scandal became the most prejudicial crisis in the administration of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, undergoing public confidence in the ODS party in power.

Flooded fallout and concealment

The resignation of June of former Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek marked only the beginning of the political earthquake. His successor, Eva Decroix, instructed the audit cabinet Grant Thornton to investigate the donation, a decision which revealed overwhelming conclusions.

The audit determined that the ministry “should not have accepted the donation of Bitcoin” due to clear red flags on its criminal origins. More explosively, this suggested that ministry officials may have violated anti-whiteness-treatment laws.