Australian Peter Nash, 42, pleaded guilty in US District Court in connection with the Silk Road case last week to drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Both charges against Nash relate to his role in Silk Road, the largest online black market for drugs.
His indictment comes about a month after Ross Ulbricht was convicted as the mastermind behind Silk Road. Nash used aliases such as “Samesamebutdifferent,” “Batman73,” “Symmetry,” or “Anonymousasshit” and worked on the forum for 10 months, according to court documents.
“The forum moderators were responsible, among other things, for monitoring user activity on the forum and related discussions, providing information on how to conduct business on the Silk Road, and reporting any significant problems they found on the site to administrators and Ulbricht. Salaries for such a position ranged from $50,000-$75,000 per year, and Nash held it from January to October 2013.
The indictment was issued in December 2013, two months after Ulbricht's initial arrest, and also includes two other Silk Road suspects, Andrew Michael Jones, also known as "Inigo," and Gary Davis, known by the pseudonym "Libertas," who also worked as administrators of the site. Jones pleaded guilty in October 2014 and has cooperated with authorities. According to Reuters, he was called as a witness in Ulbricht's trial, and his driver's license and chat logs with Ulbricht were presented in court as incriminating evidence. Davis' case is still pending, according to the news agency.
Again in Reuters, Nash states that he never knew the real identity of DPR (Dread Pirate Roberts) even though he was hired by him on Silk Road and claims that he initially entered the site to buy drugs and to "expand his social connections" but now faces the possibility of living the rest of his life in prison.
According to court documents, authorities identified Nash through the “Weekly Report” he wrote for the DPR on August 2, 2013. Related to his drug trafficking charges is a list of “mixtures and substances in detectable quantities” of various narcotics, 1 kilo of heroin, 5 kilos of cocaine, 10 grams of LSD, and 500 grams of methamphetamine.
