He was arrested in a branch of San Francisco's public library, where authorities say he was online with his laptop chatting with a cooperating witness. Ulbricht, who is also accused in Maryland in a murder-for-hire plot, was ordered held after a court appearance this week in New York. His lawyer said that his client is innocent and is not the person who used the "Dread Pirate Roberts" alias.
The investigation was launched in 2011 in Baltimore, where agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations formed the "Marco Polo" task force to target Silk Road and its administrators.
William Winter, the office's special agent in charge, said in a statement that his agents will continue to pursue crimes committed by users of "networks and digital currency designed to provide anonymity."
Green, who used the aliases of "Flush" and "chronic pain," admitted in court Thursday to serving as an administrator for the website. That meant he was responsible for responding to questions and complaints from buyers and sellers, checking whether law enforcement officials were secretly poking around Silk Road and having access to the details of financial transactions conducted through the black market bazaar, authorities say.
Prosecutors say he also served as a middleman between a website vendor and an undercover agent posing as a cocaine smuggler looking to sell large quantities of the drug. The vendor and undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent negotiated a cocaine deal for approximately $27,000, and Green agreed to have the package sent to him, authorities say.
He was arrested last January after a package of one kilogram of cocaine was delivered to his house by an undercover U.S. Postal Service inspector.
He faces up to 40 years in prison at his sentencing in February.
