Man Who Sold $105,000,000 of Illegal Narcotics Through Crypto-Based Marketplace Receives 30 Years in Prison: DOJ

The owner of the dark web marketplace Incognito Market has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for running what prosecutors describe as one of the world’s largest online narcotics platforms.

Rui-Siang Lin, who operated under the alias “Pharaoh,” pleaded guilty in late 2024 to conspiring to distribute drugs, money laundering and selling adulterated and misbranded medication.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the sentence in Manhattan federal court and ordered Lin to forfeit more than $105 million.

Court filings say Incognito Market operated from October 2020 until its shutdown in March 2024 and facilitated more than $105 million in drug sales.

Authorities say the platform sold over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and hundreds of kilograms of other drugs, along with counterfeit prescription pills, some containing fentanyl.

Incognito Market was built to resemble a legitimate online marketplace, complete with branding, advertising and customer support tools. Vendors paid a 5% commission on each sale and transactions moved through an internal cryptocurrency “bank” that masks the identities of buyers and sellers.

Prosecutors say Lin pocketed more than $6 million and oversaw more than 400,000 buyer accounts, 1,800 vendors and about 640,000 transactions.

Prosecutors also say Lin shut down the marketplace in 2024 by stealing user funds and tried to extort customers and vendors by threatening to expose their identities and crypto addresses.

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