ToRReZ Vendor “OnlyTheFinest” Enters Guilty Plea
A man with an address in Tampa, Florida, pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit Oxycodone pills on ToRReZ and Dark0de Reborn.
Akshay Ram Kancharla, 26, pleaded guilty to a single count of distribution of fentanyl. According to court documents, Kancharla sold counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, counterfeit Xanax, counterfeit Adderall, and THC resin on ToRReZ and Dark0de Reborn.
The defendant opened a vendor account on ToRReZ under the username “OnlyTheFinest” in August 2021. On October 7, 2021, an undercover FBI employee ordered ten counterfeit Oxycodone pills from OnlyTheFinest. Several days later, the feds received a package at the address they had provided to OnlyTheFinest. The return address on the envelope was an address in Tampa, Florida, and had a business name of “SKIN NUTRIENTS & ESSENTIALS, LLC.”
Employees of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) reviewed USPS records for the package’s tracking number. Records indicated that someone with an I.P. address in Tampa, Florida, had tracked the package. USPIS employees then searched for other packages tracked by the same I.P. address. They found that someone with the same I.P. address had tracked several packages addressed to an address on the 16000 block of Colchester Palms Drive in Tampa, Florida.
On October 22, 2021, Coinbase provided the investigators with the information on two accounts associated with the address on Colchester Palms Drive. Both accounts belonged to Kancharla. Kancharla had sent Coinbase a picture of himself and a picture of his driver’s license. Investigators matched the pictures, confirming that the operator of the Coinbase account was Kancharla.
On October 30, 2021, an undercover fed messaged OnlyTheFinest on ToRReZ and asked if the vendor would “conduct a direct deal off of the D.M.” The vendor provided the fed with the Wickr username “farmgod1.”
When the fed contacted the vendor through Wickr, the vendor wrote, “hello there, onlythefinest here!” The same day, the undercover fed purchased 50 pressed Oxycodone pills and 20 Adderall pills from the vendor on Wickr. The vendor provided the fed with a Bitcoin address where he would receive payment.
Several days later, feds received a package at the address sent through Wickr. The package had the same business name of “SKIN NUTRIENTS & ESSENTIALS, LLC.”
“When law enforcement conducts investigations involving virtual currency, they sometimes use commercial services offered by several different blockchain-analysis companies. These companies analyze the Bitcoin blockchain and attempt to identify the individuals or groups involved in transactions. Specifically, these companies have developed proprietary software that analyzes all the data underlying each Bitcoin transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain and then groups related Bitcoin transactions into “clusters” based on that analysis. The methods employed by these blockchain analysis companies have been independently validated by computer scientists, who have shown that these “clustering” techniques provide accurate results. Additionally, through numerous, unrelated investigations, law enforcement has been able to corroborate the accuracy of the information provided via these third-party services.”
Analysis of the Bitcoin address provided by farmgod1 for payment in connection with the October 30, 2021, controlled purchase revealed that the Bitcoin address was associated with Square. Investigators obtained records from Square, which indicated Kancharla had registered the account.
On November 3, 2021, law enforcement conducted surveillance at Kancharla’s residence. They watched him leave his house and drive to a UPS store. After he had left the store, law enforcement officers entered the store and asked the employee behind the counter if they could see any packages dropped off by Kancharla. The employee showed the police six packages, each with the sender name “SKIN NUTRIENTS & ESSENTIALS LLC” or “Akshay Kancharla.”
Between the November 3, 2021, trip to the UPS store and ToRReZ Market’s retirement in December, investigators conducted several controlled purchases through Wickr. In some instances, police intercepted the package they had ordered by following the defendant to the UPS store and watching him drop off packages.
On January 27, 2022, investigators conducted a review on DarkOde Reborn for the vendor profile OnlyTheFinest. On the market, OnlyTheFinest had completed 73 transactions and received 26 reviews.
On ToRRez market, Kancharla sold over $73,096 in controlled substances and completed over 264 transactions by December 21, 2021, including sales of 7,375 pressed Oxycodone pills. On Dark0de Reborn, he sold over $39,793 in controlled substances, including rated orders for 3,975 pressed Oxycodone pills sold.
Investigators compared the PGP listed by OnlyTheFinest on DarkOde Reborn with the PGP listed on ToRReZ, which revealed they were the same.
On February 17, 2022, police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence. During the search, officers found pressed Oxycodone pills weighing approximately 2.38 kilograms, pressed Xanax bars weighing 437.5 grams, marijuana, $30,140 in U.S. currency, and approximately 2.444 in Bitcoin.
Kancharla’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 4. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Darknet Vendor of Fentanyl-Laced Pills Pleads Guilty archive.is, archive.org, justice.gov
Complaint pdf
Plea Agreement pdf
Recon appears to be down, otherwise I would pull up the vendor’s profile.