Before his death in Thai prison cell, Canadian ‘darknet’ millionaire lived quietly on outskirts of Bangkok
According to the US Justice Department, he was the mastermind of AlphaBay, an internet marketplace that traded in illegal drugs, firearms and counterfeit goods
The neighbours had their suspicions. The young Canadian accused of masterminding the world’s leading “darknet” internet marketplace lived a seemingly quiet life for more than a year with his Thai girlfriend in a middle-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Bangkok. But the flashy cars he drove stood out.
There was the nearly US$1 million, metallic grey Lamborghini. There was the Porsche, and then the Mini Cooper for his girlfriend. All in an area where people drive pick-up trucks and children tool around on plastic tricycles.
The neighbours thought 25-year-old Alexandre Cazes worked in the hotel business. But according to the US Justice Department, he was the mastermind of AlphaBay, an internet marketplace that traded in illegal drugs, firearms and counterfeit goods.
By the time authorities closed in on July 5, Cazes had amassed a US$23 million fortune as the site’s creator and administrator, court documents show.
On Thursday, US Justice Department officials gave details of the global police operation that brought down Cazes, who authorities say hanged himself in his Thai jail cell a week after his arrest, and dealt a serious blow to illicit internet commerce.
Alexandre was always a good boy without any kind of trouble in his past ... We always thought his wealth came from investments in cryptocurrency
Cazes’s stepmother Kathy Gauthier expressed surprise at the allegations, saying “we do not understand how he could have been the person described by the FBI, that’s just not his personality!”