The FBI has shut down the "Silk Road," an underground website, and arrested the website's operator.
"Silk Road" was a website used to buy and sell drugs using services like Bitcoin, USA Today reports.
The site's operator, Ross Ulbricht or "Dread Pirate Roberts," was arrested in San Francisco on Tuesday. The 29-year-old is being charged in New York with computer hacking, soliciting a murder-for-hire, money laundering and narcotics trafficking.
According to court papers, Ulbricht reportedly tried to hire a "Silk Road" user to murder another user to prevent them from outing thousands of the website's users.
The court papers say, "Ulbricht has been willing to pursue violent means to maintain his control of the website and the illegal proceeds it generates for him."
According to Forbes, the FBI complaint reads that the website was "the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today."
The FBI estimates that nearly $1.2 billion in sales were made through Bitcoin. Ulbricht paid $150,000 (1,670 Bitcoins) to have the user murdered. The hit was supposedly made, but the FBI has yet to find proof.
Ulbricht was caught when a package containing fake ID cards were discovered. He planned to use the cards to rent more servers for his website.