Four Los Angeles County men were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of operating one of the dark web’s biggest drug distribution networks, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors have accused the men of operating 10 virtual storefronts on 17 different dark web marketplaces from September 2018 through February, the department said in a statement. The vendors had names like JoyInc, LaFarmacia and WhiteDoc.
Three 35-year-old men from Glendale and a 43-year-old man from Sherman Oaks were indicted April 1 and also accused of 116 overt acts to further the alleged conspiracy, authorities said.
Agents also allegedly found large quantities of cash and suspected drugs while serving several search warrants, but the Justice Department declined to provide further details about those activities and seizures, saying the information was under seal.
The men — Davit Avalyan, Hrant Gevorgyan, Hayk Grigoryan and Gurgen Nersesyan — pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. If convicted, each could face life in prison.
The indictment alleges that the men sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA — also known as ecstasy — and ketamine in exchange for cryptocurrency, then used the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the drugs.
The JoyInc marketplace was “one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors to ever operate on the darknet,” the Justice Department said in its statement.
A screenshot of the marketplace shared by the DOJ in the statement showed cocaine available for bulk purchase from JoyInc on Drughub, a dark web site. It also advertised MDMA “straight from EUROPE” and ketamine for $435.
The arrests were part of an effort by federal authorities to address “the growing number of illicit vendors operating on the darknet providing large quantities of harmful substances to thousands of people across the United States,” according to the Justice Department.