This artist rendering shows Ross Ulbricht, alleged owner of the 'Silk Road' encrypted website and illicit marketplace, appearing in federal court in San Francisco after his arrest in October 2013. His trial begins in Manhattan on Tuesday.(Photo: il)
A San Francisco man who federal prosecutors say directed a vast "dark web" online marketplace for heroin and cocaine, and plotted to kill those who stood in his way, goes on trial Tuesday in New York.
Jury selection begins in federal district court in Manhattan for Ross Ulbricht, the alleged owner of the Silk Road encrypted website where prosecutors say more than 100,000 customers purchased drugs and other unlawful items.
Ulbricht, who allegedly operated under the online name "Dread Pirate Roberts,'' has pleaded not guilty.
He has been held since his arrest Oct. 1, 2013, when he was taken into custody at a public library in San Francisco by FBI agents.
Prosecutors contend in court documents that Ulbricht asked others to kill people who posed a threat to his business. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest has ruled that prosecutors can introduce evidence about six alleged murder plots.
"The evidence is prejudicial to Ulbricht, and it does inject an element of violence into the case," Forrest wrote. "However, the prejudicial effect is reduced by the government's stipulation that no actual murders were carried out."
Forrest said Ulbricht "is charged not with participating in a run-of-the-mill drug distribution conspiracy, but with designing and operating an online criminal enterprise of enormous scope, worldwide reach, and capacity to generate tens of millions of dollars in commissions.''
"Evidence that defendant sought to protect this sprawling enterprise by soliciting murders-for-hire is, in this overall context, not unduly prejudicial,'' she wrote.
He is charged with conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, conspiring to commit computer hacking and conspiring to commit money laundering for a scheme that the government said stretched from January 2011 through September 2013. He also faces federal charges in Baltimore and if convicted on all counts could face up to life in prison.
Contributing: Associated Press
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