Federal judge in $1.2B Silk Road drug case is threatened online
Threats have been made against a federal judge overseeing the New York prosecution of a man accused of masterminding the underground ‘Silk Road” website on which bitcoins were used to purchase drugs.
Private information including the home address of U.S. District Judge Katherine Bolan Forrest has been posted online on a Hidden Wiki website accessible only to browsers equipped with Tor, a program that makes one’s Web usage anonymous. Additionally, an editor known as ServingJustice is calling for others to harass the jurist and her family, threatening that worse could be forthcoming, Ars Technica’s Law & Disorder blog reports.
“Without further ado, fuck this stupid bitch and I hope some drug cartel that lost a lot of money with the seizure of silk road will murder this lady and her entire family,” ServingJustice said at the conclusion of the post, which expresses unhappiness about Forrest’s rulings in the case.
The defendant, Ross Ulbricht, is behind bars in Brooklyn awaiting trial in Manhattan in January on charges that he administered the Silk Road site. It allegedly facilitated some $1.2 billion in illegal drug sales over a two-year period, Bloomberg reports.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Silk Road’ chief charged in drug case; feds say site did $1.2B in illegal Bitcoin-funded business”
Reuters: “U.S. judge rejects accused Silk Road creator’s bid to suppress evidence”
Wired’: “Judge Rejects Defense That FBI Illegally Hacked Silk Road—On a Technicality”