14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently, the alleged owner of the online drug marketplace Silk Road, Ross William Ulbricht, known as Dread Pirate Roberts on the site, did more than just get rich off of other people selling illicit goods and write libertarian manifestos. He also ordered the murder of two people he had problems with.
It doesn't look like any of them is actually dead. In one case, the would-be murderer was an undercover agent and in the second, there's no record of any murder taking place in the region and time it allegedly happened.
Ulbricht ordered the first murder on one of the site's employees who had scammed some users out of some Bitcoins. But he didn't realize he was talking to an undercover agent who had gained his trust by selling him $27,000 (€20,000) worth of a substance that had detectable amounts of cocaine.
Initially, he just wanted the employee beat up and the Bitcoins returned. But he then believed murder was a better solution since he was worried the employee might talk to the police, because of his previous prison time. Ulbricht sent $40,000 (€29,500) worth of Bitcoins before the "murder" and another $40,000 when he got a video proof, which the feds faked.
Ulbricht was, apparently, "a little disturbed" when he saw the fake footage, but believed he had done the right thing. A few months later, he targeted a Canadian man who was trying to blackmail him by threatening to reveal the identity of some of the site's owners.
This time it is believed he contacted a real criminal. Though he was convinced the murder took place, and paid about $150,000 (€110,000) in Bitcoins for it, authorities haven't been able to confirm that the murder did happen. The names of both the targets is missing from the official complaints.