A 33-year-old Slovakian national pleaded guilty in United States District Court in St Louis to a federal drug trafficking charge for his role in operating an illicit darknet marketplace that facilitated sales of illegal drugs, stolen personal information, and other unlawful goods and services. Alan Bill of Bratislava admitted involvement in Kingdom Market, a darknet platform that operated from March 2021 until it was taken offline in December 2023 as part of an international law enforcement action.
Prosecutors said Bill pleaded guilty on January 27 to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, a felony charge filed in the Eastern District of Missouri. The charge carries a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and a maximum of 40 years, plus a possible fine of up to $5 million. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Bill agreed to forfeit cryptocurrency held in digital wallets linked to the operation as well as domain names seized by authorities.
Federal undercover agents began investigating Kingdom Market in mid-2022 and conducted purchases of illegal substances and forged documents through the platform as part of the case. Those transactions included fentanyl, methamphetamine, and a fraudulent United States passport that was later shipped into the Eastern District of Missouri, according to court filings.
Kingdom Market operated across the dark web and allowed users to conduct transactions in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, and Zcash cryptocurrency using anonymous or semi-anonymous accounts. The marketplace hosted tens of thousands of user accounts and roughly 42,000 listings that included narcotics, stolen identities, counterfeit money, computer malware, and fraudulent identification documents. Law enforcement agencies from multiple countries coordinated the seizure of the platform’s infrastructure and domain names in late 2023.
Bill was arrested on December 15, 2023, at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after United States Customs and Border Protection officers discovered electronic devices and a cryptocurrency hardware wallet in his possession. Those items contained evidence tying him to the operation of Kingdom Market, including records of cryptocurrency transactions linked to the darknet marketplace.
Court documents say Bill held a technical support role in maintaining aspects of the platform and its online presence. He acknowledged providing or procuring web administration services for Kingdom Market and assisting with the creation of forum pages on platforms such as Reddit and Dread that supported the operation. Bill also had access to usernames used to post content on behalf of the marketplace’s accounts on social media sites and communicated with others about certain marketplace transactions.
Under his plea agreement, Bill consented to the forfeiture of five types of cryptocurrency from a digital wallet associated with Kingdom Market and the permanent surrender of internet domains used by the marketplace, which have been taken offline by law enforcement. Sentencing is scheduled for May 5, with the court expected to impose a term in line with federal sentencing guidelines for the conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.