Judge Steven Seeger sentenced Empire Market co-creator Raheim Hamilton to 40 years.

A sentence after a guilty plea is the judgment on that charge. Judge Steven C. Seeger imposed 40 years and a $5 million fine on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. Co-creator Thomas Pavey pleaded guilty last year and is set to be sentenced later this month, so his term is not this one.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, that Raheim Hamilton was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for co-creating and operating Empire Market, a dark-web marketplace where users could anonymously buy and sell illegal goods and services. The office said he co-owned and operated the market from 2018 to 2020, and that it facilitated more than four million transactions between vendors and buyers valued at more than $430 million. The illegal products, the office said, included controlled substances, compromised or stolen account credentials, stolen personally identifying information, counterfeit currency, and computer-hacking tools. Sales of controlled substances were the largest share, with net drug sales totaling nearly $375 million over the life of the site. The office said the drugs sold included approximately at least 13,314.23 grams of fentanyl, 446,683.15 grams of cocaine, 71,992.33 grams of methamphetamine, and 103,396.21 grams of heroin. Those weights are the government's account of the market. The sentence is what Judge Seeger imposed on the plea.

The office said Hamilton and co-creator Thomas Pavey designed Empire Market to help users avoid detection by law enforcement and to assist users with laundering money from the transactions. It said they required that every transaction on the site be conducted in cryptocurrency, encouraged tumbling and mixing services to conceal those transactions, encouraged encryption while users communicated on the site, and let users rate vendors on how well the vendors concealed the drugs they shipped. CoinDesk, citing the Justice Department, reported the same cryptocurrency requirement and the same encouragement to use mixing services. That is the office's account of how the market was built. It is not a second case.

The office said Hamilton, 30, of Suffolk, Virginia, pleaded guilty earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Chicago to a drug conspiracy charge. He agreed to forfeit ill-gotten proceeds including approximately 1,230 bitcoin and 24.4 ether, and three properties in Virginia. On Monday, the office said, U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger sentenced him to 40 years in federal prison and fined him $5 million. The release is dated Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, so that Monday is Oct. 5. U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros announced the sentence, with the Chicago FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago, and Homeland Security Investigations in New York listed as the investigating agencies. CoinDesk reported the 1,230 bitcoin were worth about $101 million and the 24.4 ether about $60,000. Those dollar figures are CoinDesk's valuation, not a line in the sentencing release. CoinDesk also described the site as having facilitated more than 4 million drug transactions worth upwards of $430 million. The office's split is the one to use: more than four million transactions valued at more than $430 million, of which net drug sales were nearly $375 million. The judgment is 40 years and the $5 million fine.

The office said Thomas Pavey, 41, of Ormond Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty last year to a federal drug conspiracy charge and admitted his role in creating and operating Empire Market. He agreed to forfeit approximately 1,584 bitcoin, two boxes containing 25-ounce gold bars, three automobiles, and two properties in Florida. CoinDesk reported that same forfeiture. The office said Pavey is set to be sentenced before Judge Seeger later this month. A guilty plea and a forfeiture agreement are not the term the court will impose on him. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.