🚨 Dark Web Drug Ring Busted — $7.9M Laundered via Crypto 💊💰
Manhattan prosecutors have dismantled “FireBunnyUSA”, a dark web network that shipped 10,000+ drug packages across all 50 U.S. states while laundering over $7.9 million through Bitcoin and Monero.
👥 The guilty crew:
Nan Wu (ringleader), Peng Peng Tang, Bowen Chen, Zixiang Lin & Katie Montgomery — all pled guilty.
🧠 Modus Operandi:
💻 Operated via dark web marketplaces, advertising “premium quality” narcotics with discreet shipping 📦
💰 Accepted Bitcoin (BTC) for payments and converted funds into Monero (XMR) to hide traces 🔐
🔄 Reconverted XMR back to BTC to cash out through crypto exchanges and Chinese yuan channels 🇨🇳
✉️ Shipped drugs directly to clients nationwide
🕵️ Conducted 11 undercover sales to Manhattan investigators between 2021–2022
⚖️ Key facts:
📍 Ran from 2019–2022 out of Flushing, Queens 🗽
💸 Laundered $3.1M through U.S. crypto exchanges + $2.4M BTC converted abroad
💎 Seized: 20 BTC, 3,297 XMR, and $12,857 cash
⛓️ Wu sentenced to 6.5 years in state prison
💬 DA Alvin Bragg:
> “Even though this activity originated on the dark web, it fuels the same drug-related violence we see in our neighborhoods.”
🔎 Following the Crypto Trail:
🌐 This bust follows global crackdowns like Operation RapTor’s $200M crypto seizures and 145 BidenCash domains linked to stolen card trades.
🧩 Criminals are shifting to privacy coins (XMR, ZEC) for anonymity — yet most illicit funds still move via BTC, ETH, and stablecoins, per Chainalysis.
🕵️♂️ Crypto’s immutable ledger = permanent digital fingerprints.
Even “private” transactions can resurface years later.
