In or around July 2014, ALEXANDRE CAZES, aka “ALPHA02,” aka “ADMIN,” with other persons, known and unknown to the authorities, created AlphaBay (also referred to as the “AlphaBay Market”), a dark-web marketplace designed to enable users to buy and sell illegal goods, including controlled substances, stolen and fraudulent identification documents and access devices, counterfeit goods, malware, and other computer hacking tools, firearms, and toxic chemicals. The site also enabled users to purchase and sell illegal services, including tumbling and mixing services, which are forms of money laundering used for digital currencies.
From its official launch in December 2014 AlphaBay was used by thousands of vendors to distribute controlled substances and other illegal goods and services to buyers throughout the world and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars deriving from these illegal transactions. AlphaBay also provided a private, internal messaging service through which staff, vendors, and buyers could communicate, as well as an associated web forum called the “AlphaBay Market Forum.” On 1 June 2017, an arrest warrant would be issued for Alexandre CAZES that would be satisfied approximately one month later on 5 July 2017. CAZES was arrested during a raid on his home in Bangkok, Thailand, and was held by the Royal Thai Police for approximately seven days before apparently committing suicide while in custody on 12 July 2017. On 19 July 2017 U.S. Attorneys Office of the Eastern District of California filed a civil forfeiture complaint against CAZES and his wife.
Based on the facts of this case, discuss and analyze the impact that technology and the internet specifically have had and will have going forward in the field of organized crime (A maximum of 1500 words).
