US DOJ indicts operator of dark web 'Dream Market'

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted Owe Andresen, a German national identified as the operator of the dark web marketplace Dream Market, on charges of laundering approximately $2 million in cryptocurrency. According to BeInCrypto, prosecutors allege that in late 2022, Andresen accessed a dormant Dream Market wallet, moved the funds to new consolidated addresses, and then used them to purchase gold bars, which were shipped to his home in Germany. German authorities arrested Andresen on May 7, seizing gold bars worth about $1.7 million and $23,000 in cash. Dream Market was a major dark web marketplace that operated from 2013 to 2019 and was implicated in drug trafficking using BTC.