A Russian court sentenced Stanislav Moiseyev, a crime boss alleged by state media to be the founder of Hydra, a now-defunct darknet marketplace. Moiseyev, along with 15 accomplices, was convicted on charges of organized crime and drug-related offenses.
Moiseyev received a life sentence, while his accomplices were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 8 to 23 years. Collectively, they were fined 20 million rubles (approximately $188,900). Law enforcement seized nearly one metric ton of narcotics and psychotropic substances during raids, as well as the group’s properties and vehicles. Hydra, founded in 2015, was one of the largest darknet marketplaces, selling illegal drugs, counterfeit documents, stolen credit card data, and other illicit goods. Its operations were masked by the Tor encryption network, making it difficult to trace the identities of its 17 million customer accounts and 19,000 vendor accounts.
The Moscow Regional Court handed down the sentences on Monday, Nov. 27, 2024. The case stems from criminal activities carried out between 2015 and October 2018, when Moiseyev and his group were active in Russia and Belarus.
The case was tried in the Moscow Regional Court. Hydra’s operations were international, but its primary base of activities was in Russia and neighboring countries. German authorities shut down Hydra, seized its servers, and confiscated its bitcoin assets in April 2022.
Hydra was estimated to be worth over $1.3 billion at its peak, making it one of the largest darknet marketplaces in the world. Moiseyev and his group were accused of manufacturing and trafficking drugs, among other crimes. The court aimed to dismantle the criminal network and set a precedent for combating organized cybercrime.
The state-run TASS and Interfax news agencies reported that Moiseyev was Hydra’s founder, though this has not been publicly confirmed by prosecutors. The sentences are subject to appeal. The crackdown involved extensive raids, during which large quantities of narcotics were seized, alongside the group’s assets. German authorities’ earlier actions against Hydra further weakened the network, leading to the convictions.
