Saudi Man Admits Paying for “Sadistic” Child Pornography with Cryptocurrency
In a court in the Eastern District of Virginia, a Saudi national admitted downloading child abuse content from a darkweb platform that provided illegal content to paying members. The announcement, published on the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ website, highlighted the fact that the defendant had “paid cryptocurrency” to access this darkweb platform in search of illegal pictures and videos.
The case, brought to the attention of law enforcement agencies by Project Safe Childhood, is one of only a small number of cases involving child abuse platforms with a membership fee payable in cryptocurrency. These forums, chat rooms, imageboards, and and similar content distribution sites have often presented a barrier of entry for law enforcement by requiring members or ...