Gary ‘Libertas’ Davis, a 35-year-old Irishman, is set to be released from a U.S. federal prison, marking the end of his US sentencing for his involvement in the infamous Silk Road darknet marketplace. His release came six-and-a-half years (78 months) after heading to prison in July 2019. The ex-Silk Road admin worked closely with Ross Ulbricht and earned an easy $1,500 each week for his duties. Following the Silk Roads seizure, Davis helped relaunch the marketplace as “Silk Road 2.0” before being captured by the FBI in 2014.
Key Takeaways
- Gary Davis, known as ‘Libertas’, was a significant figure in the Silk Road darknet marketplace, serving as an administrator and forum moderator
- During its operation from 2011 to 2013, Silk Road facilitated the sale of over $213 million worth of illegal drugs
- Davis worked under Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road. He then was involved in relaunching the marketplace as “Silk Road 2.0”
- Davis was arrested in 2014 and, after a legal struggle, was extradited to the U.S. in 2018
- Six-and-a-half years (78 months) after his imprisonment in July 2019, Davis is set to be released this month. Davis will be deported back to Ireland, concluding his sentence in the U.S.
- Davis will serve three more years of supervised release and forfeit $25,000.
Gary Davis, also known as ‘Libertas’, was the former administrator of the infamous ‘Silk Road’ Darknet Marketplace. During its operation from 2011 to 2013, Silk Road’s unlawful vendors distributed over $213 million worth of illegal drugs to more than 115,000 buyers and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars.
Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, operated the marketplace with the assistance of a small team of administrators and forum moderators. From May 2013 until October 2013, Davis worked as both an administrator and forum moderator for Ulbricht.
The Irishman’s role included responding to customer support requests from Silk Road users who required assistance, investigating and resolving disputes that arose between buyers and vendors, reporting incidences to Ulbricht, and enforcing the rules set by Ulbricht. For his efforts, Davis was paid $1,500 in Bitcoin every week from Ulbricht.
On October 1st, 2013, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Ulbricht, seizing his laptop. Law enforcement agents subsequently accessed information from the seizure of his laptop and shut down Silk Road.
Within a month, Libertas and a team of administrators from the closed Silk Road relaunched the site, dubbing it “Silk Road 2.0”. The dark web marketplace was based-off the original site’s setup and provided improved security.
Libertas continued to work as an administrator for the new dark web marketplace until his arrest in 2014.
His Arrest and Sentence
Davis was arrested in 2014 on an indictment order, three months after Ulbricht’s arrest. The arrest formed part of the FBI’s investigation into the Silk Road operation. The Irish High Court ordered Davis to be extradited to the US, which he appealed.
Federal prosecutors charged Davies with several drug trafficking offenses and sought his extradition to the U.S. Following a lengthy court battle, Davis argued that he would be detained in “an inhumane and degrading manner.”
In 2018, Davis was eventually extradited to the US. He then ended up spending nine months at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, also referred to as ‘Guantanamo Bay of New York’ due to its poor living conditions.
At his sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors sought a sentence of up to 20 years for what they deemed as his “High-raking” role in Silk Road. Davis pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Jesse M. Furman, admitting the role he played in Silk Road.
Furthermore, his defence attorney argued that the prison’s “unsanitary and overcrowded conditions” cited in other cases were grounds for a reduced sentence. In July 2019, Davis received a sentence of six-and-a-half years (78 months) in prison for conspiracy to traffic narcotics.
During his initial sentencing Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said
“Gary Davis helped run the Silk Road website – a dark web marketplace for illegal drugs, hacking services, and other criminal activity. Davis’s arrest, extradition from Ireland, conviction, and prison sentence should send an unmistakable message: the dark web does not cast shadows long enough to protect criminals from the long arm of the law.”
In addition to his prison sentence, he was further ordered to serve three years of supervised release and forfeit $25,000. Davis was then transferred to Federal Correction Institute Hazelton in West Virginia.
FCI Hazelton, also known as ‘Misery Mountain’, is a collective of prisons situated near the town of Bruceton Mills. One of its institution’s most recent high-profile prisoners, Whitey Bulger, an ‘Irish mobster’ was murdered a few days after being transferred.
Despite the poor conditions, his prison record revealed that he had completed 35 classes and tutored other inmates. Davis is due to be released from FCI Hazelton later this month, with a deportation order in place sending him back to Ireland after his official release.
