A Taiwanese man was sentenced to 30 years for operating Incognito Market, a darknet drug marketplace that enabled over $105M in global narcotics sales.
A Taiwanese national has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for running Incognito Market, one of the world’s largest online drug marketplaces, which facilitated the sale of more than $105 million in illegal narcotics to customers around the globe.
Rui-Siang Lin, 24 — also known as Ruisiang Lin, “Pharoah,” and “faro” was arrested in May 2024 and pleaded guilty in December to money laundering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medications.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who handed down the sentence, described the case as “the most serious drug crime I have ever been confronted with in 27.5 years,” calling Incognito Market “a business that made Lin a drug kingpin.”
Court documents state that the marketplace enabled the sale of more than one ton of narcotics, including 295 kilograms of methamphetamine, 364 kilograms of cocaine, 112 kilograms of amphetamine, and 92 kilograms of ecstasy (MDMA), some of which was laced with fentanyl.
At its peak, Incognito Market hosted more than 1,800 vendors, over 400,000 customer accounts, and processed upwards of 640,000 transactions. Lin maintained full control over the operation and held ultimate decision-making authority over the multimillion-dollar enterprise.
Customers paid for drugs using cryptocurrency through a platform known as “Incognito Bank.” The marketplace generated more than $83.6 million in revenue, with Lin personally earning over $4.1 million through a 5% commission on transactions.
In July 2022 and August 2023, law enforcement obtained warrants to access three servers used to operate the platform: one storing transaction data, another providing DDoS protection, and a third handling all cryptocurrency payments.
Lin operated Incognito Market from October 2020 until March 2024, when he abruptly shut it down and threatened to release transaction records unless vendors and customers paid additional fees.
“Rui-Siang Lin was one of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers, using the internet to distribute more than $105 million in illegal drugs across the United States and worldwide,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. He added that Lin’s actions “had devastating consequences,” including at least one confirmed death and significant harm to hundreds of thousands of users and their families.
In addition to the 30-year prison sentence, Judge McMahon imposed five years of supervised release and ordered Lin to forfeit $105,045,109.67.
The case follows other major darknet prosecutions, including a Virginia man who recently pleaded guilty for co-creating Empire Market, which facilitated $430 million in illegal transactions, and a Slovakian national who admitted to helping operate a darknet marketplace selling drugs, cybercrime tools, fake IDs, and stolen personal data.
Reports are sourced from official documents, law-enforcement updates, and credible investigations.
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