Empire Market creator sentenced to 40 years in dark web marketplace case

A creator of the Empire Market dark web marketplace was sentenced this week to 40 years in federal prison, according to The Record. Raheim Hamilton, 30, pleaded guilty earlier this year to drug conspiracy charges. The report said his role involved helping people sell drugs, hacking tools and stolen information through the service.

The Record described Empire Market as a cybercriminal forum. The sentence arrives during a stretch of prosecutions that have produced significant prison time for people accused of building, running or supplying underground drug operations in several countries.

A wider wave of sentencings

In a Homeland Security Task Force case, four Massachusetts men were sentenced for a conspiracy to manufacture counterfeit pills and distribute them across the United States, the Justice Department said. Court documents described an operation running from at least May 2022 to June 2025, and the department said the final defendant received more than 18 years in prison.

In Canada, Isaac Oliveira Scott, 29, was arrested by German authorities in February and extradited to Canada, the Times Colonist reported. He was sentenced to six and a half years after pleading guilty to trafficking a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and three firearms offences.

In Britain, the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit announced on December 15, 2025 that four men were sentenced to 47 years in total for a nationwide dark net drug supply operation run under the SocialPharma brand, according to TRM Labs.

In New Zealand, a 48 year old man was sentenced to 12 years in the Christchurch District Court after a Customs investigation linked him to more than $20 million worth of illicit drugs concealed in household items, 1News reported. Seventy packages were linked during an eight month investigation.