A Taiwanese national has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for operating the dark web narcotics marketplace Incognito Market. Rui-Siang Lin, known as “Pharoah,” facilitated over $105 million in cryptocurrency-based sales of narcotics, including fentanyl-laced pills, across more than 640,000 transactions from October 2020 to March 2024. He pleaded guilty to charges of narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and selling adulterated medication, and was ordered to forfeit $105 million.
Rui-Siang Lin operated the crypto-enabled dark web platform Incognito Market under the pseudonym “Pharoah.” The marketplace facilitated over 640,000 narcotics transactions totaling more than $105 million between October 2020 and March 2024.
The platform utilized an internal crypto “bank” system where users deposited cryptocurrency. Vendors paid a 5% commission on sales, generating over $6 million in profits for Lin.
In January 2022, Lin explicitly allowed opiate sales on the platform. A 27-year-old Arkansas resident later died after taking purported oxycodone purchased on Incognito Market that was laced with fentanyl.
Lin shut down the platform in 2024 after stealing at least $1 million from user deposits. He then attempted to extort vendors and buyers by threatening to publish their transaction histories.
Homeland Security Investigations arrested Lin at John F. Kennedy International Airport in May 2024. The multi-agency investigation involved the FBI, DEA, FDA, and NYPD.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon handed down the 30-year sentence in addition to five years of supervised release. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said, “the internet, ‘decentralization,’ ‘blockchain’—any technology—is not a license to operate a narcotics distribution business.”
Ari Redbord of TRM Labs noted the sentence reflects how courts now view large dark web markets as core illicit infrastructure. He added that it “sends a clear message that running these platforms carries consequences comparable to major organized crime.“
