Arrested Silk Road Mod SSBD waives extradition rights over Silk Road charges in Us
Posted by: DeepDotWeb
March 19, 2014
The arrested Silk Road moderator Peter Phillip Nash, 41 Who was also known under the name Samesamebutdifferent (SSBD) – A Former Queensland prison employee appeared in the Brisbane magistrates court on Wednesday. He was accused of helping run Silk Road one being one of the staff members under the alleged “Dread Pirate Roberts” Ross Ulbricht.
He has now waived his extradition rights paving the way for him to face charges in the US of conspiracy to launder money. The Extradition can be executed once the Commonwealth attorney general in Australia approves it. The couriermail quoted the court protocol:
Nash today told Queensland’s Chief Magistrate Tim Carmody he was aware of his rights and was prepared to be sent to the USA as soon as possible to answer the charges.
Judge Carmody asked Nash: “Do you wish to … waive (your rights regarding) extradition on all three charges?’’
Nash: “Ah, that’s correct your Honour.
Judge Carmody then asked Nash if he was aware that by waiving his rights the US Government could bring further serious criminal charge against him.
“Is that a risk you wish to run?’’ the judge asked.
Nash replied: “Yes it is your Honour.’’
Solicitor Mark McKechnie, acting for Federal Attorney-General George Brandis and the US Government, said Nash had made it clear he wanted a quick extradition so the criminal proceedings could “get started as soon as possible.’’
Solicitor Karl Brandon, for Nash, said his client was fully aware of his legal rights and entitlements.
The court was told Nash had also recently sought legal advice from lawyers based in the US before arriving at his decision.
Judge Carmody granted the extradition order, signing the appropriate documents for urgent dispatch to Mr Brandis’s office for execution.
It is unclear when Nash will be flown to the US.
Nash (SSBD), who worked for a Brisbane prison’s forensic disability service, was arrested by Australian federal police in December – you can find the details about the 3 silk road moderators arrest in this post
US prosecutors allege he was “the primary moderator” for discussion forums on the Silk Road website (there were few others as we can remember so this claim is a bit weird as far as we see it, not going into too much details for the indictment)
Prosecutors say in the indictment he went by the aliases “Batman73” ,“Anonymousasshit”, and “symmetry” (what considered to be a mistake published in the slip up forum post by the new Dread Pirate Robers who was running the new incarnation of the Silk Road at the time, before going on the run, after the moderators arrest).
He and two other alleged Silk Road employees (known under the aliases of inigo and Libertas – again see this post for details ) have been charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in the US.
The trio is also charged with narcotics and computer hacking offenses.
A Queensland government gazette published in October 2011 shows that Nash had been employed at the Wacol prison’s forensic disability service for intellectually disabled inmates.
We Hope to see him free as soon as possible, it seems pretty unlikely considering the US laws in cases such as this one, we can only hope that the reason he waived his rights was that he know that the most part of the charges will be dropped.
Updated: 2014-03-19