Man pleads guilty in Pittsburgh to role in Darknet conspiracy

An Israeli man who helped facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit sales on the dark web pleaded guilty Wednesday to his role in the conspiracy in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Tal Prihar, 39, entered the plea to a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering that was filed against him nearly two years ago by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Pittsburgh.

At the time, federal prosecutors said it was the “single most significant law enforcement disruption of the Darknet to date.”

Their website was seized by the U.S. Court of Western District of Pennsylvania via a judicial order.

Prihar was arrested in Paris. Phan was arrested in Israel and is not in U.S. custody.

Prihar will be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose on Aug. 2. Under federal sentencing guidelines, fhe aces a recommended prison term of at least 11 years in prison. Phan’s case is still pending.

According to the indictment, Prihar, along with Michael Phan, who grew up with Prihar in Israel, operated a website called DeepDotWeb from 2013 through 2019. The site provided users links and access to make illegal transactions, anonymously, on the dark web, or “Darknet,” an online marketplace not easily accessible through traditional search engines.

Federal prosecutors said that DeepDotWeb helped facilitate purchases for hundreds of thousands of users, of illegal drugs, like heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine; firearms including assault rifles; malware; and compromised credit cards and access-device making equipment.

It also provided tutorials for users on how to buy drugs on the dark web.

Each time a purchase was made through their site, Prihar and Phan would receive a kickback in virtual currency, Bitcoin, which they then transferred into other Bitcoin accounts and into other accounts in the name of shell companies around the world, including in banks in Latvia and Georgia.

Prosecutors said that Prihar, who was responsible for administering the site, and Phan, who designed and maintained its operation, earned more than $15 million in kickbacks.

According to the plea agreement, Prihar agrees to pay $8.4 million in restitution and to forfeit all of his virtual currency and bank accounts, as well as the DeepDotWeb domain and server contents.