A British Columbia Supreme Court docket choose declined a U.S. request to extradite a B.C. man accused of promoting medication on the Silk Street on-line platform, citing inadequate proof.
James Ellingson is accused within the U.S. of trafficking illicit medication in alternate for bitcoin on Silk Street between 2011 and 2013, the yr that U.S. law enforcement authorities shut down the nameless on-line market.
Ellingson was alleged to have operated beneath three usernames – MarijuanaIsMyMuse, Redandwhite and Lucydrop – to promote to prospects in New York Metropolis and elsewhere.
In a decision released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court docket Justice Lisa Warren discovered the proof introduced was inadequate.
Warren wrote that bitcoin was transferred from the MarijuanaIsMyMuse Silk Street account to nameless middleman addresses, and the cryptocurrency was transferred from these addresses to alternate accounts managed by Ellingson, “however there is no such thing as a proof that Mr. Ellingson managed the middleman addresses.”
CBC Information reached out to Ellingson’s lawyer, Marilyn Sandford, who mentioned her consumer would not touch upon the choice.
Paul McMurray, a Burnaby-based lawyer who will not be related to the case, mentioned it is comparatively uncommon for a Canadian choose to disclaim an extradition request.
“The US makes fairly just a few extradition requests to Canada and, particularly lately, they appear to have their deal with so as in submitting the suitable documentation containing sufficient proof to justify extradition,” he mentioned. “So this one was a little bit of a rarity.”
McMurray mentioned the choice could possibly be appealed or U.S. officers might file one other request to attempt to “fill within the holes” that have been recognized by the justice.
