One of the suspected co-founders of AlphaBay hanged himself. According to local police, he was being held at the request of U.S. authorities on drug-related charges.
AlphaBay was one of the largest illegal marketplaces on the dark web. The site went offline on July 5th. While experiencing down-time is nothing unusual for AlphaBay, some users have since come across a massive bitcoin transaction worth over $3.7 million that many believe could have originated from AlphaBay.
AlphaBay representatives, who were usually active in the underground community, also remained silent.
This started speculations that the people behind the website were trying to do an exit scam.
This was the time when the police arrested the website's co-founder Alexander Cazes.
Cazes was arrested on July 5th, 2017, at the Private House housing estate on Phutthamonthon Sai 3 Road in Thawi Watthana district. This was the same when AlphaBay went offline.
He hid in Thailand to avoid U.S. prosecution. He was said to marry a local woman, residing in Thailand for at least eight years. During his arrest, the global operation that involved police in the U.S., Canada and Thailand, also raids on two of this other residences and a business in Quebec. The police also seized Lamborghinis, all owned by Cazes. He was said to worth at least $11 million.
Before it went off, AlphaBay was dubbed the new "Silk Road", popular for dark web users that want to purchase illegal goods while preserving their anonymity.
Cazes spent the next six days awaiting his extradition so he can return to the U.S. to face charges there. On July 12th, he was found lifeless in a jail restroom at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau building in Laksi district in Bangkok.
The police said that Cazes used towels to take his own life by hanging.
Born in Canada 26 years ago, Cazes was known as a computer programmer that amassed his wealth from his bitcoin-powered black market website. The AlphaBay, before it went offline, was estimated to generate profits of more than $500,000 a day.