Crooked police chief sentenced to 8 years for dark web shenanigans

Publicado en by Cointele | Publicado en

Mencionado en este artículo
Former police chief Yuri Zaitsev was recently sentenced to eight years in prison for acting as a bounty hunter for a dark web marketplace.

In December 2018, Zaitsev was working as the leader of his unit within the Main Directorate for Drugs Control of the Republic of Khakassia - a law enforcement division analogous to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA. At that time, he initiated contact with the operator of a darknet marketplace, offering to help hunt down a man who had appropriated drugs that were entrusted to him for placement in dead drops.

In Russia, unlike the U.S., most dark web entrepreneurs do not trust the post office for shipments.

According to Zaitsev's wife, his prosecution was punishment for investigating senior officials within his agency.

From October-November 2019, Zaitsev uploaded a number of videos to YouTube in which he allegedly exposed corruption among senior officials in his Directorate.

In November 2019, Zaitsev uploaded an appeal to President Vladimir Putin on YouTube in which he pleaded his case, but to no avail.

During the unrelated Silk Road investigation, numerous law enforcement officials fell afoul to what they perceived as easy, untraceable Bitcoin.

He obtained the funds using an elaborate scheme in which he created multiple fake personas ranging from a major South American drug trafficker to a corrupt law enforcement official.

The actual thief was another law enforcement official involved in the investigation.

The events that took place in Khakasia a few years after the Silk Road saga seem in some ways like a cheap local knockoff of an expensive HBO show.

x