Manhattan federal prosecutors formally indicted Ross Ulbricht, the alleged mastermind of the infamous online drug marketplace Silk Road, charging him with being the kingpin of a large-scale drug trafficking enterprise, drug trafficking, hacking, and money laundering.
The four charges were laid out in a new indictment announced on Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
See also: Alleged Silk Road Mastermind Was a Dirty Hippie, Best Friend Says
Perhaps surprisingly, there was no charge related to the six murders that federal agents previously alleged Ulbricht ordered. Ulbricht was initially accused of ordering two murders for hire, a number that was later increased.
However, Ulbricht faces a brand new charge of "continuing criminal enterprise," based on a law that's commonly referred to as the "Kingpin Statute" and usually levied against leaders of organized crime rings like mob bosses or drug lords.
"Ross Ulbricht [...] engaged in continuing criminal enterprise [...] in concert with at least five other persons with respect to whom Ulbricht occupied a position of organizer, and a position of management," the indictment alleged.
This new charge carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years in jail and a maximum of life in prison. The other charge related to drugs, of "narcotics conspiracy," could also potentially send him in jail for life, or a minimum of 10 years. The other two accusations carry lesser penalties: a maximum of 5 years for hacking and a maximum of 20 years for money laundering.
Ulbricht was arrested on Oct. 2 in the science fiction department of a San Francisco public library, the same day the FBI seized Silk Road, a website that agents described as "the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet."
In a statement to Forbes, Ulbricht's lawyer Joshua Dratel said the new indictment "does not contain any new factual allegations," and that Ulbricht will plead not guilty at the arraignment.
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