| Man Who Sold
Fentanyl on Alpha Bay Pleads Guilty Pro Se
To Lying About Bitcoins Too
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 15 – Chukwuemeka Okparaeke
pleaded guilty on October 15
to importing and distributing
fentanyl analogs, and to lying
to authorities that his
Bitcoin wallet had been hacked
before agreeing to forfeiture.
U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Paul E.
Davison conducted the two hour
long change of plea proceeding
by CourtCall on October 15.
Inner City Press covered
it.
Okparaeke
represented himself pro se,
with a stand-by counsel. He
had agreed to a plea agreement
for at least 210 months, as
well as the forfeiture.
Judge Davison asked Okparaeke
if he had been coersed into
pleading
guilty.
Okparaeke replied that the
criminal justice system is
inherently coersive, but
no.
Okparaeke
emphasized that he had never
heard of one of the analogs
his Alpha Bay product was
deemed substantially similar
to.
After a
break-down with his stand-by
counsel, he slightly modified
the plea - but emphasized that
the packages from Hong Kong he
tried to pick up did not, in
fact, contain any controlled
substances.
The plea
was deemed sufficient. The
sentencing is set for December
17.
The case is US v.
Okparaeke, 17-cr-225 (Roman /
Davison)
***
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