Variety Jones (aka Cimon) and Smedley (Smed) Charger are
pseudonyms of individuals reported to have been closely involved with the founding of the
darknet market Silk Road.
Involvement
According to security researcher Runa A. Sandvik, Variety Jones joined Silk Road in 2011 as a
marijuana seed vendor, opposed to the
war on drugs
The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...
. Working closely with
Ross Ulbricht, they were to act as a
penetration tester,
financial advisor
A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...
and
mentor
Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...
, and was the person who suggested the "Dread Pirate Roberts" title Ulbricht used. According to seized chat logs, Jones was also the one to suggest the first alleged murder for hire, though it did not actually take place.
Smedley joined the site as a
coder
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
following the
Gawker user influx as a relatively highly paid employee. Unfinished projects included encrypted
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
system "Silk Mail" and other prospective financial and internet projects. At times it appeared Smedley reported directly to Jones.
Identities
Research into these individual's identities has been conducted via tracking
blockchain Bitcoin transactions, confidential sources, rare Thai marijuana seeds and rationalisation of aliases. Consequently, it has been suggested Smedley's true identity could be Mike Wattier, a U.S. web developer living in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
. Variety Jones could be Roger Thomas Clark, a Canadian also living in Thailand. On December 3, 2015, Clark was arrested in Thailand and faced extradition to the United States.
Detainment and extradition
Nearly a year after his arrest and detainment in Thailand, Clark claimed he had "top secret information"
for intelligence officials close to
Prayuth Chan-o-cha, prime minister of Thailand's military government.
While fighting extradition in Thailand, where he slept on a concrete floor, Clark maintained that he had knowledge of a corrupt FBI agent involved with Silk Road.
Clark was extradited to the United States on June 15, 2018. He was charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy; narcotics trafficking; distributing narcotics by means of the internet; conspiracy to commit, and aid and abet, a computer hacking conspiracy; conspiracy to traffic in fraudulent identification documents; and money laundering conspiracy. In January 2020, Clark pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute narcotics. Facing a maximum of 20 years in prison, his sentencing was delayed several times and, as of September 2022, was set for January 26, 2023.
[https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-clark-901]
References
Dark web
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
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