The former head of the bankrupt Mt. Gox Co. bitcoin exchange was originally believed by U.S. investigators to be the secret mastermind behind the Silk Road online drug marketplace, an agent who infiltrated the website told jurors at the trial of the man prosecutors now accuse of running it.
Jared Der-Yeghiayan, a Department of Homeland Security special agent, testified Thursday that he believed in mid-2013 that Mark Karpeles, then Mt. Gox's chief executive officer, was also head of Silk Road, where buyers used bitcoins to purchase drugs and other illegal items anonymously.
Ross William Ulbricht, who was arrested in October 2013 and charged with running Silk Road under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts," is on trial in Manhattan federal court on charges of conspiracy and Internet drug trafficking.