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  • Essay / The Silk Road Investigation

    In early 2012, Der-Yeghiayan, a Department of Homeland Security investigator, began investigating the Silk Road after noticing numerous drug shipments passing through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, his official workplace. . The photos and descriptions included in these mailings matched the drugs advertised on the Silk Road website. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayDer-Yeghiayan and his team decided to create a secret account under the username “dripsofacid” to investigate the site Silk Road Web. Throughout the investigation period, Der-Yeghiayan spent thousands of hours on Silk Road's community forums and made approximately 50 clandestine purchases from 40 resellers in 10 different countries. These purchases were made using Bitcoins, since this is the digital currency used by Silk Road. He also seized several buyer and seller accounts on the Silk Road website. These accounts came from criminals who had been arrested for illegal activities and had cooperated to reduce their sentences. In July 2013, Der-Yeghiayan seized the administrator account named “Cirrus”. From there, he could report directly to Dread Pirate Roberts. He communicated with Dread Pirate Roberts several times a week. Der-Yeghiayan was paid approximately $1,000 per week directly by Dread Pirate Roberts. The earnings were intended for managing the Silk Road forum and resolving user issues. There were three other forum moderators other than "Cirrus". At that time, Dread Pirate Roberts did not know that the "Cirrus" account had been seized by an undercover agent. Although Der-Yeghiayan was able to enter an administrator account and communicate often with Dread Pirate Roberts, he did not know it. Ross Ulbricht was the suspect. In September 2013, one of the IRS investigators informed Der-Yeghiayan that Ross Ulbricht was the suspect and that he was a good match for Dread Priate Roberts. Then Der-Yeghiayan flew to San Francisco to join the FBI team based in New York. This team was led by Agent Christopher Tarbell. On October 1, 2013, FBI agents and Der-Yeghiayan cooperated to arrest Ross Ulbricht. FBI agents constantly monitored Ross Ulbricht and his apartment while Der-Yeghiayan was on his laptop at the cafe called Bello Coffee where Ross Ulbricht often visited. Der-Yeghiayan continued to watch the staff chat and Dread Pirate Roberts remained online. At 2:37 p.m., Dread Pirate Roberts logged out of the staff chat and Der-Yeghiayan was informed by FBI agents that Ross Ulbricht had left his apartment and was heading to the cafe. Then Der-Yeghiayan immediately left and sat on a bench near the cafe. Ross Ulbricht entered the cafe, but immediately left because it was too crowded. Ross Ulbricht changed his destination to the Glen Park Public Library, near the cafe. The FBI agents and Der-Yeghiayan followed Ulbricht and entered the library. Der-Yeghiayan's laptop remained on and he found a safe place to start a communication with Ross Ulbricht. At 3:08 p.m., Ulbricht opened his laptop and logged into the staff chat. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay After Der-Yeghiayan noticed that Dread Pirate Roberts is logged into the staff chat, he started a planned conversation with him. Der-Yeghiayan asked Dread Pirate Roberts to check one for him.