Incognito Market Founder Rui-Siang Lin Gets 30-Year Prison Term
U.S. prosecutors said the founder of Incognito Market, one of the world’s largest dark-web drug marketplaces, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Authorities stated that the platform facilitated more than $105 million in illegal drug sales, all conducted through cryptocurrency, before being shut down in March 2024. The marketplace was used globally to trade narcotics while attempting to hide users’ identities.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon also ordered the forfeiture of assets exceeding $105 million, reflecting the scale of the illicit operation. In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed five years of supervised release after completion of the term. Prosecutors described the case as a major victory against large-scale online drug trafficking and cryptocurrency-based criminal networks.
Charges and sentence
Lin, 24, pleaded guilty in December 2024 to narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiring to sell adulterated/misbranded medication. On February 3, 2026, Judge McMahon imposed a 30-year sentence, citing the scale and harm of the operation. The court noted “Incognito” enabled sales of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl-laced pills and other drugs, and described the case as the most serious drug crime the judge had seen in 27.5 years on the bench.
How Incognito Market worked
Prosecutors said Incognito Market functioned like an e-commerce platform: buyers searched listings from 1,800+ vendors and paid in crypto. An internal system—“Incognito Bank”—let users deposit digital assets and pay vendors, with the platform taking about 5% per sale. Authorities estimate more than 400,000 buyer accounts and over 640,000 transactions from Oct. 2020 to Mar. 2024.
Incognito Market founder sentenced to 30 years: key figures
Sales volume: $105M+
Drugs sold: cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, alprazolam, counterfeit oxycodone (some fentanyl)
Admin policy shift: opiates permitted as of Jan. 22, 2022
Exit scam/extortion: Lin closed the site in Mar. 2024, taking at least $1M in deposits and threatening to publish user data.
Related enforcement actions
The sentencing follows other actions targeting crypto-enabled crime. DOJ finalized forfeiture of $400M+ in assets tied to the darknet mixer Helix; operator Larry Dean Harmon was sentenced in Nov. 2024 to three years’ imprisonment. In June 2025, U.S. and Dutch authorities seized roughly 145 domains connected to the BidenCash operation. In Nov. 2023, the District of New Jersey filed to recover $54M in crypto, including 30,000 ETH, tied to convicted trafficker Christopher Castelluzzo.
Context & Analysis
The case underscores prosecutors’ growing focus on marketplace infrastructure payment rails, internal “banks,” and policies that expand high-risk listings (e.g., opiates). It also fits a pattern of pairing criminal prosecutions with large asset forfeitures (e.g., Helix), aiming to deter copycats by removing profits.
Concluding Remarks
Lin’s 30-year prison sentence, along with massive financial forfeiture and a period of supervised release, represents one of the harshest U.S. actions taken against a cryptocurrency-based drug marketplace. The ruling highlights the courts’ willingness to impose severe penalties on individuals who use digital assets to support large-scale illegal narcotics trade.
Law enforcement agencies have made it clear that this case is not an isolated effort. Authorities say they will continue targeting marketplace operators, drug vendors, and cryptocurrency mixing services that help conceal illicit transactions, reinforcing a strong stance against online drug trafficking networks.
FAQs
Q : What is Incognito Market?
A : Incognito Market was a dark-web marketplace used to buy and sell illegal narcotics, with payments conducted through cryptocurrency.
Q : Who was sentenced?
A : Rui-Siang Lin, the operator known online as “Pharaoh,” was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Q : How much was forfeited?
A : The court ordered forfeiture of $105,045,109.67, along with five years of supervised release after prison.
Q : When did Incognito operate?
A : The platform operated from October 2020 until its shutdown in March 2024.
Q : Did harm result from platform sales?
A : Prosecutors linked at least one death to fentanyl-laced pills sold via the site.
Q : How did payments work?
A : Transactions used cryptocurrency and an internal system called “Incognito Bank,” charging about 5% per transaction.
Q : Does the case affect mixers?
A : Yes, it aligns with broader enforcement actions, including the $400 million Helix forfeiture.
Q : Does this FAQ include the exact keyword?
A : Yes Incognito Market founder sentenced to 30 years is used here for clarity.
Facts
Event
Sentencing of Rui-Siang Lin for operating Incognito MarketDate/Time
2026-02-04T12:00:00+05:00 (article); sentencing occurred 2026-02-03 (ET)Entities
Rui-Siang Lin; U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; Colleen McMahonFigures
$105,045,109.67 forfeiture; 640k+ transactions; $105M+ sales; 400k+ buyer accounts; ~1,800 vendors (units: USD, count).Quotes
“Rui-Siang Lin was one of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers…” — U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton (excerpt).Sources
SDNY sentencing PR; SDNY guilty plea PR (URLs in Sources)