Rui-Siang Lin, the operator of a darknet drug trafficking market, was sentenced to 30 years in prison

According to CoinDesk, a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York revealed that Rui-Siang Lin, the alleged operator of the dark web drug marketplace Incognito Market, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Tuesday. This marks the conclusion of one of the largest cases involving an online drug market since the Silk Road case.

U.S. prosecutors stated that the operators of the dark web market Incognito Market used cryptocurrency and anonymous tools to conceal their identities, but investigators ultimately linked them to the platform through domain records and digital footprints. Rui-Siang Lin operated under the online alias "Pharaoh." He pleaded guilty in December 2024 to multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit drug offenses, money laundering, and conspiracy to sell adulterated and falsely labeled drugs. Prosecutors indicated that the platform facilitated over $105 million in illegal drug transactions between October 2020 and March 2024, completing more than 640,000 transactions and serving hundreds of thousands of buyers worldwide.