"Hamilton and Pavey established that all transactions on the site must be conducted using only cryptocurrency. They encouraged users to use tumbling and mixing services to conceal cryptocurrency transactions and utilize encryption while communicating on the site. They also allowed users to rate vendors based on how well the vendors concealed the drugs they shipped," the Department of Justice said.
Raheim Hamilton and the rise and fall of Empire Market
Raheim Hamilton, 30, known online as "Sydney" and "ZeroAngel," owned and operated Empire Market from August 2017 until its abrupt shutdown in 2020. The market was a hidden service on the dark web accessible only via TOR browsers and was modeled and advertised as an AlphaBay clone. Before launching Empire, Hamilton sold on AlphaBay between June 2016 and July 2017 under the "ZeroAngel" username.
The shutdown in 2020 came amid persistent extortion-based distributed denial-of-service waves and sparked exit-scam claims after users were not given time to withdraw funds from escrow accounts. Hamilton supervised approximately five moderators and personally handled some dispute cases; both he and co-defendant Thomas Pavey (aka "Dopenugget") hired moderators to resolve disputes.
Scale and scope: millions of users, transactions, and dollars
According to court documents cited by the Justice Department, Empire Market facilitated more than 4 million transactions and processed roughly $430 million in illegal transactions between 2018 and 2020. Drug sales were the dominant activity, totaling nearly $375 million and supported by more than 166,000 listings for controlled substances.
At its peak in August 2020, Empire Market had roughly 1.68 million unique registered users, including more than 5,000 vendors and nearly 360,000 buyers. The Department of Justice quantified the controlled substances sold on the market, saying they included at least 13,314.23 grams of fentanyl, 446,683.15 grams of cocaine, 71,992.33 grams of methamphetamine, and 103,396.21 grams of heroin.
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End the scrambleCryptocurrency, tumblers, and operational security
Hamilton admitted when he pleaded guilty in January that Empire Market was designed to help users avoid law enforcement detection and launder money. The site required all transactions to be conducted in cryptocurrency, and Hamilton and Pavey encouraged the use of tumbling and mixing services to conceal cryptocurrency flows.
Beyond currency, operators urged users to use encryption for communications and implemented vendor rating systems that explicitly rewarded vendors for how well they concealed drugs in shipments. These operational choices — escrow mechanics, cryptocurrency-only payments, and guidance on concealment — are central to how the marketplace operated and how investigators later built their case.
Evidence, seizures, and sentences
Law enforcement documented undercover purchases and physical intercepts during the investigation. Between April 2019 and May 2020, agents made multiple undercover buys, acquiring at least 143.5 grams of methamphetamine and 105.4 grams of heroin. Investigators also intercepted a package containing 443.5 grams of methamphetamine ordered from the market.
When the Department of Justice charged Hamilton and Pavey in July 2024, authorities announced they had already seized $75 million worth of cryptocurrency. Hamilton agreed to forfeit three Virginia properties and approximately 1,230 bitcoin and 24.4 Ether. Pavey, who pleaded guilty last year to a federal drug conspiracy charge and will be sentenced later this month, agreed to forfeit two Florida properties, approximately 1,584 bitcoin, two boxes containing 25-ounce gold bars, and three cars.
On sentencing, the court imposed a 40-year prison term on Hamilton for his role in facilitating the market and its illicit commerce.
What this means for vendors, buyers, and law enforcement
- Vendors and buyers: Those who relied on Empire Market faced an abrupt shutdown and exit-scam claims that left users unable to withdraw funds from escrow accounts. The scale of listings and transactions — including more than 166,000 controlled-substance listings — underscores how embedded illegal commerce became on the platform.
- Law enforcement: Undercover buys, physical package intercepts, and a multi-pronged forfeiture of cryptocurrency and real property were central to the investigative outcome, culminating in a 40-year sentence for Hamilton and large-scale asset seizures announced at the July 2024 charging.
- Cryptocurrency mixing and tumbling services: Because the defendants explicitly encouraged tumbling and mixing to hide proceeds, those services were a named component of the operational model prosecutors described and figure prominently in how transactions were concealed.
The sentencing closes one chapter in the Empire Market story: a dark-web marketplace that grew to more than a million users, processed hundreds of millions of dollars, and collapsed amid DDoS-fueled chaos. A related criminal case remains active — Pavey will be sentenced later this month — and the record supplied by prosecutors includes quantified drug seizures, undercover purchases, and significant cryptocurrency and property forfeitures.
