High on Cryptocurrency: Indian Citizen Pleads Guilty to Selling and Distributing Controlled Substances on the Dark Web
- Banmeet Singh, 40, established a multimillion-dollar drug enterprise which laundered approximately $150 million into cryptocurrency accounts.
An Indian citizen extradited from the UK has pleaded guilty to selling controlled substances on dark web marketplaces and agreed to forfeit $150 million. Banmeet Singh, 40, of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, created vendor marketing sites on dark web marketplaces to sell controlled substances, including fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, Ketamine, and Tramadol, according to a Department of Justice press release citing court documents.Â
Customers ordered controlled substances from Singh using the vendor sites and by paying with cryptocurrency. Singh then personally shipped or arranged the shipment of controlled substances from Europe to the United States through U.S. mail or other shipping services.
Singh controlled at least eight distribution cells from âat least mid-2012 through July 2017,â the DOJ said. Those cells were located within the United States including cells located in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, North Dakota, and Washington. Individuals in those distribution cells received drug shipments from overseas and then re-packaged and re-shipped the drugs to locations in all 50 states, Canada, England, Ireland, Jamaica, Scotland, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Over the course of the conspiracy, Singh âmoved hundreds of kilograms of controlled substances throughout the United States,â the DOJ said. They âestablished a multimillion-dollar drug enterprise which laundered millions of dollars of drug proceeds into cryptocurrency accounts, which ultimately became worth approximately $150 million.â Singh was arrested in London in April 2019. The U.S. secured his extradition in 2023.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces an agreed-upon sentence of eight years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.