Feds crypto trace gets Incognito Market creator 30 years

Cointelegraph reports that Rui-Siang Lin, the creator of the Incognito Market, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after blockchain sleuthing led US authorities to the platform’s steward. The Justice Department said a Manhattan court found Lin responsible for running a marketplace that sold $105 million worth of illicit narcotics between its October 2020 launch and its closure in March 2024; Lin pleaded guilty in December 2024 to conspiring to distribute narcotics, money laundering, and conspiring to sell misbranded medication.

Incognito allowed users to buy and sell drugs using Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) while taking a 5% cut. Authorities said Lin closed Incognito in March 2024, stole at least $1 million from user accounts, and then attempted to extort users. He was arrested in May 2024 at New York’s John F.

Kennedy Airport after the FBI tied transfers from an Incognito wallet through a swapping service to an exchange account in his name, and the exchange provided identification and contact details the agency linked to the site.

United States, New York