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​Silk Road's Main Moderator Pleads Guilty

Peter Nash faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

An Australian man who was indicted for moderating discussion boards on Silk Road pled guilty last week. According to a p​ress release from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York's office, the charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

According to the indictm​ent, Peter Philip Nash went by the handles "samesamebutdifferent," "Batman73," "Symmetry," and "Anonymousasshit" while working as the underground site's "primary moderator" for at least 10 months in 2013, before the FBI shut Silk Road down. As moderator, the document states, Nash would send weekly reports to "Dread Pirate Roberts" with updates on the latest happenings on the site's forums.

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Nash was indicted with two other defendants, Andrew Michael Jones and Gary Davis, on counts of narcotics trafficking conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. These are the same charges that Ross Ulbricht faced, although the alleged "Dread Pirate Roberts," faced an additional "kingpin charge." The Silk Road's "forgotten three" were indicted in Decemb​er 2013, two months after Ulbricht was arrested.

Jones pled guilty in October 2014 and his sentencing is scheduled for October 1. Davis is in Ireland while his extradition is pending. Nash's sentencing is scheduled for May 26.

Ulbricht was found gu​ilty in February 2015, though his lawyer vowed to appeal the decision.

Nash was extradited from Australia to the US in June 2014. Of the three named on the indictment, Nash was the lowest ranked, working only the forums and not in the marketplace itself. According to court doc​uments, "Ulbricht paid the site administrators and forum moderators salaries ranging from approximately $50,000 to approximately $75,000 per year for their services."

"I deeply regret my conduct and any consequent harm I caused," Nash said at his hearing, according t​o the BBC.