It seems like news on darknet black markets is becoming more and more frequent in the media these days. There’s no shortage on vendors getting busted and buyers getting sentenced.
If you don’t remember the Maximilian – or Shiny Flakes – darknet bust of 2015, let me refresh your memory: a 20-year-old black market vendor named Maximilian S. was caught with over 300 kg of drugs.
From hash and LSD to cocaine prescription pills and MDMA, Shiny Flakes/Maximilian was well known on the dark web as a vendor. In complete review, Maximilian sold over 914 kg of drugs over the internet.
Moreover, the drugs weren’t the only thing confiscated from the infamous darknet vendor. In addition, authorities found almost 50k euros, 1197 BTC, cell phones, and a computer with an excel spreadsheet listing buyer names.
This is where a 26-year-old Gilching citizen comes in. The suspect went to court back in June on ecstasy charges after his name was found on Maximilian’s spreadsheet.
During the process, the man denied ordering the packages; using the defense that someone could have (and did) use his name and mailbox to order the drugs. Seeing as mailboxes are widely accessed, the man’s defense did hold some truth.
“The 26-year-old from Gilching adamantly denied the accusations placed against him. He claimed that an unknown person simply used his name and address to order from a darknet drug shop. Judge Brigitte Braun of the court in Starnberg asked the defendant is he knew anyone who would have used his name. He did not.
His defense attorney explained that anyone his his multi-family residence could have accessed the mailbox. She argued that the prosecution heard no evidence that someone did not use his name to order ecstasy.”