NotLambchop
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November 07, 2014, 03:12:57 PM

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3. They busted it mid October and have been running a honey pot ever since.

"[After saying "OHAI, can I b admin 2?!"] the investigator was a paid staff member, receiving 16 payments in Bitcoins totalling about $32,189 based on current exchange rates.
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With that level of authorized access—and with communications directly with Benthall—the FBI and HSI would have been able to gather evidence directly from the site’s server and then use other measures to de-anonymize the individuals associated with it. It’s possible that the investigators may have allowed the site to continue to operate for a period of time to act as a “honeypot” to gain further information about transactions being passed through the marketplace. According to the criminal complaint, "foreign law enforcement authorities" imaged the Silk Road 2.0 server on May 30—which means the site was allowed to continue to operate for five more months while the FBI, HSI, and partner law enforcement organizations gathered data."