A Slovakian national has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to participating in a darknet marketplace that facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and stolen personal information.
Alan Bill, 33, from Bratislava, admitted to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for his role in operating Kingdom Market. The online marketplace functioned between March 2021 and December 2023, enabling users to buy and sell illicit goods such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, other drugs, as well as stolen financial data and identification documents. Transactions were conducted using cryptocurrency and anonymous or semi-anonymous accounts.
Bill acknowledged providing or procuring web-administration services for Kingdom Market. He also received cryptocurrency linked to the site’s operations, helped create forum pages on platforms like Reddit and Dread, accessed usernames used for social media postings on behalf of Kingdom Market, and communicated with others about specific transactions.
Undercover federal investigators began making purchases from Kingdom Market around July 2022. These included fentanyl, methamphetamine, and a United States passport that were shipped into the Eastern District of Missouri. Bill was arrested on December 15, 2023 at Newark Liberty International Airport after customs officials discovered two cell phones, a laptop computer, a thumb drive, and a hardware wallet containing cryptocurrency private keys. Authorities reported these devices held evidence connecting him to Kingdom Market.
As part of his plea agreement, Bill agreed to forfeit five types of coins stored in a cryptocurrency wallet along with the domains kingdommarket.live and kingdommarket.so; both websites have since been shut down by authorities.
Sentencing is set for May 5. The drug trafficking conspiracy charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and could result in up to forty years behind bars as well as fines reaching $5 million.
The investigation was conducted by multiple agencies including IRS Criminal Investigation; the FBI; Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General; Bureau of Diplomatic Security; Missouri Department of Revenue; along with international law enforcement partners such as Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Police), Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office - Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT), Switzerland’s authorities, Moldova’s agencies, and Ukrainian law enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman is leading prosecution efforts.
