Ever since the AlphaBay darknet market went offline, people have been thoroughly speculating on what is going on exactly. With the site not coming back after almost a full week, things are not looking good. It now appears the alleged AlphaBay administrator, who goes by the name of Alexandre Cazes, has committed suicide in a Bangkok prison cell.
Given the nature of darknet marketplaces, it is often impossible to tell who is running a particular marketplace. In most cases, the real people behind such popular underground platforms are never unmasked. In the case of AlphaBay, that situation will not necessarily be any different. However, many people believe Alexandre Cazes is the person responsible for running this illegal marketplace.
Cazes was arrested in Thailand on July 5th, which coincides with the day the popular darknet marketplace suddenly disappeared. Without prior notice or official explanation, users were unable to place orders or access their funds. So far, this situation has not been resolved, which only makes it more plausible to assume the AlphaBay administrator has indeed been arrested. Or as the stories claim, he has apparently committed suicide.
According to Thai sources, Cazes took his own life on July 12th around 7 AM, while he was still detained in a cell of the Narcotics Bureau of Bangkok. On that day, Cazes was supposed to meet up with a lawyer to prepare for his extradition back to the United States. Standing trial in the US under allegations of arms trading, narcotics trading, and operating an illegal marketplace is never a fun experience. In fact, Ross Ulbricht got sentenced to life in prison without parole for a similar project known as Silk Road.
If Cazes is indeed the AlphaBay administrator, this news doesn’t bode well for the marketplace and all of the money still locked inside its wallets. It is unclear if anyone else has access to the necessary resources so that the platform can be relaunched in the future. It is also unclear as to what Cazes may have told the authorities in regards to AlphaBay, its users, or other people working on the platform.
On Reddit, there is some wild speculation as to whether or not these claims are true. It is hard to determine if Cazes is the real AlphaBay admin, but all of the information seems to hint at that outcome. His arrest coincides with the platform going down, and it would also explain why AlphaBay has not resurfaced. On the platform, the admin is known as “deSnakes”, which very well could indeed by Cazes. At the time of his arrest, authorities also seized his Lamborghini.
It appears the server powering the entire darknet marketplace is located in Montreal, Canada, and still appears to be operational. Whether or not this means law enforcement agents have successfully gained access to the information stored on the machine remains unclear at this time. With the AlphaBay administrator allegedly having killed himself, this once popular marketplace may not rise from the dead ever again.
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