Serbian pleads responsible to operating ‘Monopoly’ darknet market

A Serbian man pleaded responsible on Wednesday to working a drug trafficking platform referred to as Monopoly Market on the darknet.

Milomir Desnica, 33, allegedly launched and operated Monopoly starting in late 2019, utilizing the platform to facilitate the sale of varied medication together with opioids, stimulants, psychedelics, and prescription drugs.

He made roughly $18 million in narcotics gross sales worldwide, together with the sale of over 30 kilograms of methamphetamine to prospects within the U.S., in line with a press release launched by the Division of Justice on Wednesday. Desnica is being tried within the District of Columbia, the place his sentencing is scheduled for February.

He may face a most sentence of life imprisonment and monetary penalties.

In 2021, German and Finnish legislation enforcement seized the pc server internet hosting Monopoly and took it offline.

The takedown was one of many largest legislation enforcement actions taken towards a darknet market, and the ensuing arrests of 288 distributors overshadowed the 150 made following the takedown of DarkMarket in 2021 and 179 following the takedown of Wall Road Market in 2019.

Legislation enforcement additionally seized greater than $53.4 million in money and digital currencies, in addition to 850 kilograms of medicine.

Desnica was arrested in Austria final November and was extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking expenses final June.

Desnica allegedly used not less than two cryptocurrency trade providers to launder his illicit proceeds. He then bought the cryptocurrency to Serbia-based peer-to-peer merchants in trade for fiat foreign money in an effort to “clear” his earnings, prosecutors mentioned in a press release in June.