The bearded Frenchman who admitted in June 2018 to being underground drug trafficker "OxyMonster" has now been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Gal Vallerius is best known for selling on the underground online marketplace known as Dream Market. He was arrested in August 2017 after arriving in the United States to attend a beard competiton in Austin, Texas. Miami-based US District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. also ordered Vallerius on Tuesday to forfeit nearly 100 bitcoins and over 121 units of bitcoin cash. At current rates, that totals over $700,000.
As Ars previously reported, investigators began homing in on Vallerius when they analyzed the "tip jar" that OxyMonster advertised on Dream Market. According to the criminal complaint, "15 of 17 outgoing transactions from the 'OxyMonster' tip jar went to multiple wallets controlled by French national Gal VALLERIUS on Localbitcoins.com."
With that, law enforcement was able to compare Vallerius' writing style on his known Instagram and Twitter accounts to OxyMonster. "Agents discovered many similarities in the use of words and punctuation to including: the word 'cheers;' double exclamation marks; frequent use of quotation marks; and intermittent French posts," prosecutors continued.
In a letter submitted to the court, Vallerius' wife, Yasmin Vallerius, wrote in a Hebrew-language letter that his arrest had "broke him mentally."
"I know he's regretting everything, and I know he'll never make the same mistake!" she continued. "Please, Your Honor. Have mercy on him!"
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Ars Technica
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