‘MillionaireMike’, a SpaceX Engineer, Tried to Buy and Sell Inside Information on the Dark Web. He’s Now Facing Jail Time.

所谓的黑网络是众所周知的非法活动的市场，如毒品处理和武器销售。

Add insider trading to the list.

The Securities and Exchange Commission detailed the dark web’s use as a marketplace for insider trading tips in a complaint filed Thursday in an Indianapolis federal court against James Roland Jones, a SpaceX engineer it accused of accessing “an insider trading forum on the dark web in search of material non-public information (‘MNPI’) on which to trade securities.”

这是关于黑色Web上的非法活动的第一次执行诉讼。

琼斯在黑暗的网络上被绰号“百万富通”和百年人撒谎撒谎，留下了跨国公司，以便获得内幕交易论坛，这对周四提交了对他的指控和联邦刑事指控有罪。

According to the related criminal charges, Jones purchased what he believed was inside information from an undercover FBI agent in 2017. Jones had purchased fake names, addresses, and social security numbers on the dark web to open accounts to trade on this information. Jones and a conspirator then “conducted numerous securities transactions based on this purported insider information,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa, Florida, announcing the plea agreement concurrently with the SEC.

Jones faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

In its complaint, the SEC did not name the dark web forum for insider trading, but the details it described match those of two exclusive forums, the KickAss marketplace and one called The Stock Insiders, both of which were exposed in a 2017 report “Monetizing the Insiders” by Red Owl and Intsights, two cyber security research firms.

该报告称，于2016年4月开业的股份内部人士旨在“创造长期和精选的绅士们，他们自信地交换有关公开交易公司的内幕信息”。关于论坛JONES的报告中包含完全相同的单词。

According to the SEC, Jones visited at least three dark web sites where illegal drugs, personal identifiable information, stolen and fraudulent identification documents, counterfeit goods, and malicious software and other hacking tools were sold.

In late 2016, the SEC alleged, he came across a dark web marketplace listing an address for an insider trading forum, where people could anonymously exchange MNPI about publicly traded companies.

The forum says its “main goal is to create ‘a long term and well-selected community of gentlemen who confidently exchange insider information about publicly traded companies,'” the SEC alleged. The forum’s rules added that “in the U.S. and many other countries insider trading is illegal and that the security and the anonymity of its members is the highest priority.”

Both statements were made on The Stock Insiders forum, according to the Red Owl/Intsights report, which noted that “the recruitment of insiders within the dark web is active and growing. We saw forum discussions and insider outreach nearly double from 2015 to 2016.”

为了进入论坛和内幕交易信息，在2017年春季琼斯开始提供出售股票提示，他声称是内部信息的结果，证券投诉说。“琼斯知道人们会支付他们认为是MNPI的东西，所以他涉及信息的来源和他与内幕交易论坛的联系，”根据投诉。

But instead of using inside information, Jones made educated guesses on corporate earnings based on his research. While his first two guesses were wrong, he was successful on the third try, estimating the earnings per share for a home building company. He said he got the information from a friend who worked there, which was a lie. When most of Jones’ tips did not pan out he was kicked out of the forum, according to the SEC.

琼斯曾被抓住以销售在黑暗的网络上的提示，塞浦秒说。根据刑事诉讼，他还试图从FBI代理商购买MNPI。

According to the SEC, several users paying in bitcoin purchased his tips and ultimately traded based on the information Jones provided. But his earnings were meager: Jones made approximately $27,000 as a result of his misrepresentations and deceptive acts, the SEC said.

“This case shows that the SEC can and will pursue securities law violators wherever they operate, even on the dark web,” said David Peavler, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office. “We have committed staff and technology to pierce the cloak of anonymity these wrongdoers try to throw over their crimes.”

这些内幕交易论坛的现状尚不清楚。根据其原始报告的作者之一的一个Intsights报告，Darkass Marketplace似乎已于2019年初被政府扣押。但他表示，该网站稍后再次重新出现“通过与以前相同的主页布局和jabber联系方式使用相同的URL。似乎Kickass通过从美国冰上上传假警告标志来欺骗其用户，使他们认为论坛是由当局执行的另一个网站的另一个受害者。“

According to a more recent report from dark web monitor Digital Shadows, KickAss returned last December after a lengthy hiatus, “following the increasing media and law enforcement attention brought to the platform by the actions of the randomware collective, The Dark Overlord.”