A drug dealer ordered to forfeit millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for distributing drugs including carfentanil and fentanyl.
Sky Justin Gornik previously pled guilty to the charge and also admitted that he tried to launder drug proceeds using cryptocurrencies, which he held on US-based exchanges Bittrex and Poloniex.
As part of his plea, Gornik admitted he bought and sold controlled substances on the dark web from 2014 to June 7, 2017.
To do so, he used several screen names on marketplaces including Alpha Bay, Dream Market, and Trade Route.
Specifically, Gornik bought and sold fentanyl. He also admitted to buying the especially deadly opiate carfentanil using a variety of digital currencies.
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Gornik also bought and sold several other controlled substances, including thousands of vials of ketamine, oxycodone pills, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), psilocybin and psilocin, amphetamine, buprenorphine, methamphetamine, and naloxone.
After raiding his home, agents confiscated 1.7 grams of carfentanil and sheets of fentanyl gelatin tablets. The amount of carfentanil found by agents equated to “over 86,000 fatal dosages.”
“Dark Web traffickers take note: we will not allow you to lurk in murky corners of the internet, selling and delivering deadly drugs as casually as an Amazon Prime package,” said US Attorney Robert S. Brewer, Jr., who praised AUSA Sherri Hobson and the multi-agency team for “cracking through multiple levels of anonymity mazes to uncover the true nature and extent of Gornik’s drug dealing and money laundering.”
Gornik is thought to have purchased 600-1,200 fentanyl gel tablets a week over approximately two years from another dark web dealer, identified as Steven Wallace George. George, a resident of Oklahoma, has been prosecuted by authorities in his home state for making the fentanyl tablets from pure fentanyl imported from China.
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