A Virginia man who co-created and ran the dark web marketplace Empire Market has pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to drug conspiracy charges tied to a sprawling illegal operation that handled millions of anonymous transactions and hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit sales.
Raheim Hamilton, 30, of Suffolk, Va., admitted his role in designing and operating Empire Market and entered a guilty plea this week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The plea exposes the inner workings of a site built to let vendors and buyers trade illegal goods and services while attempting to evade law enforcement scrutiny.
Hamilton faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in federal prison, with U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger setting sentencing for June 17, 2026. The case underscores how online anonymity and digital currency can be used to scale criminal markets across state and international lines.
From 2018 to 2020, Empire Market processed more than 4 million transactions between vendors and buyers and handled transactions valued at over $430 million, making it one of the largest dark web marketplaces of its era. Those figures reflect the platform’s broad reach and the volume of trade that flowed through its infrastructure before it was disrupted.
The site offered a range of illegal items, including controlled substances, stolen or compromised account credentials, stolen personally identifying information, counterfeit currency, and computer-hacking tools. Sales of controlled substances dominated the marketplace, with net drug sales approaching $375 million over the site’s lifespan, a figure prosecutors relied on when framing charges.
Hamilton acknowledged in his plea agreement that he and co-creator Thomas Pavey designed Empire Market to hinder detection by authorities and to help users launder proceeds from illegal sales. They required transactions to be routed only through cryptocurrency, a design choice aimed at insulating users and operators from traditional financial oversight.
As part of the plea, Hamilton agreed to forfeit significant proceeds tied to the operation, including approximately 1,230 bitcoin, 24.4 Ether, and three properties in Virginia. Those forfeitures reflect the government’s effort to seize assets it says were earned from illegal commerce and to remove the financial incentives driving large-scale online marketplaces.
Thomas Pavey, 40, of Ormond Beach, Fla., previously pleaded guilty to a federal drug conspiracy charge and admitted his role in creating and operating Empire Market; he is awaiting sentencing and faces the same maximum sentence as Hamilton. Pavey agreed to forfeit roughly 1,584 bitcoin, two boxes containing 25-ounce gold bars, three automobiles, and two properties in Florida, according to court filings tied to his case.
The guilty plea was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, Mary Johnson, Acting Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melody Wells and Ann Marie Ursini. Those officials outlined how the investigation tied server logs, cryptocurrency movements, and other digital evidence to the site’s operators.
The Empire Market case highlights persistent challenges for law enforcement as criminal enterprises adopt encrypted communications, decentralized payment methods, and anonymizing technologies. Prosecutors framed the defendants’ actions not as isolated missteps but as deliberate system design choices intended to shelter large-scale illegal commerce from detection and prosecution.
The legal consequences in this matter extend beyond prison terms: forfeiture orders seek to recapture assets and deter others who might build or operate similar platforms. As sentencing approaches, the outcomes in Hamilton’s and Pavey’s cases will be watched by prosecutors and investigators focused on dismantling online criminal networks and by policymakers weighing how to address tech-enabled illicit trade.
