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The U.S. Department of Justice announced AlphaBay’s seizure on July 20, 2017, but the FBI takedown had taken place on July 4. The action was part of Operation Bayonet, an international effort that also included the Dutch National Police takeover of Hansa Market on June 20, according to DOJ’s seizure notice.
What happened to AlphaBay?
On July 20, 2017, the Department of Justice announced that law enforcement had seized AlphaBay, describing it as the largest criminal marketplace on the internet at that time. DOJ said the marketplace operated as a hidden service on Tor and used Bitcoin, Monero, and Ethereum. It facilitated listings for illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services.
The announcement was part of a coordinated international operation, not simply a website going offline. DOJ credited the FBI, DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations among the U.S. agencies involved, with cooperation from Thailand, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Europol. DOJ’s announcement and seizure notice describe the operation.
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There are two relevant dates: the operational takedown and the public announcement. DOJ’s seizure notice dates the FBI’s AlphaBay takedown to July 4, 2017. DOJ announced the seizure publicly on July 20, 2017. The announcement date is not the date the FBI took down the market.
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How was Hansa Market connected to the operation?
Operation Bayonet also included the Dutch National Police takeover of Hansa Market on June 20, 2017, according to the DOJ seizure notice. That preceded the FBI’s July 4 takedown of AlphaBay. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein described the effort as a coordinated international operation against AlphaBay and Hansa, which Dutch authorities had been investigating.
In his July 20 remarks, Rosenstein said the AlphaBay case was part of a “larger international effort” against dark-web marketplaces that broker criminal transactions. The dates establish the sequence of the two operations; DOJ’s public announcement gives only a brief account of the Dutch action, so it does not provide a fuller operational history of Hansa.
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How large was AlphaBay?
DOJ’s 2017 announcement reported scale figures drawn from marketplace claims and listing counts; it did not describe them as audited metrics.
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- Around the time of the takedown, DOJ reported more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals.
- DOJ also reported more than 100,000 listings across other categories, including stolen or fraudulent identification documents and access devices, counterfeit goods, malware and hacking tools, firearms, and fraudulent services.
- For context, DOJ compared those figures with approximately 14,000 illicit listings on Silk Road at the time of its seizure.
DOJ also said investigators believed AlphaBay had been used to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from illegal transactions. That was the investigators’ belief reported in the announcement, not a final adjudicated total.
What did DOJ say about overdose deaths and charges?
The announcement reported that investigations connected purchases through AlphaBay to overdose deaths, including cases involving U-47700 and fentanyl. These were claims described in complaint affidavits and investigations, not findings that every marketplace transaction or named person resulted in a conviction.
DOJ explicitly cautioned that charges in indictments or complaints are allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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What DOJ announced—and what the dates mean
Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the action “the largest dark net marketplace takedown in history” in his July 20, 2017 remarks. The public announcement described AlphaBay’s seizure and its international partners; DOJ’s seizure notice supplies the distinct operational dates for the FBI action against AlphaBay and the Dutch takeover of Hansa.
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