Empire Market Owner Sentenced to 40 Years for Dark Web Crimes

The co-creator of Empire Market, once one of the largest marketplaces operating on the dark web, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for running a platform that facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal transactions.

Raheim Hamilton, 30, who operated online under the names “Sydney” and “ZeroAngel,” was found responsible for helping run Empire Market between 2017 and its shutdown in 2020.

According to U.S. authorities, transactions conducted through the marketplace exceeded $430 million and involved more than four million purchases.

Empire Market Enabled Large-Scale Criminal Activity

Empire Market operated as a hidden service accessible through the Tor network. The platform was designed to conceal users’ identities and was modeled after AlphaBay, another major dark web marketplace that was taken down in 2017.

Drugs accounted for the majority of activity on Empire Market, although authorities said the platform also offered stolen credentials, personal information, hacking tools, counterfeit currency, and other illegal goods and services.

At its height in 2020, the marketplace reportedly had around 1.68 million registered users, including thousands of vendors.

Hamilton admitted that cryptocurrency was required for transactions and that the platform used measures intended to make financial activity harder for investigators to trace.

Authorities Seized Millions in Cryptocurrency

The investigation involved undercover purchases and other law-enforcement operations before Hamilton and his co-defendant, Thomas Pavey, were charged in 2024.

Authorities also seized approximately $75 million in cryptocurrency during the investigation.

Hamilton has agreed to forfeit multiple properties as well as substantial cryptocurrency holdings, including more than 1,200 bitcoin and Ether.

Pavey previously pleaded guilty to a federal drug conspiracy charge and is scheduled to be sentenced separately.

The case demonstrates the scale that underground online marketplaces can reach when anonymous communication, cryptocurrency, and privacy-focused technologies are combined to facilitate criminal activity.