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Court Rules to Extradite Suspected Silk Road Admin From Ireland to the US

An Irish judge has ruled on the extradition of Gary Davis, suspected of being Silk Road staffer Libertas.
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After several delays, a judge has finally ruled on the extradition of a suspected Silk Road staff member from Ireland. On Friday, Justice Paul McDermott ordered that Gary Davis, alleged to be behind the Silk Road moniker "Libertas," is to surrender to the United States, the Irish Times reports.

According to the Irish Times, Davis had argued that, because of his recently diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome, he would be detained in an inhuman and degrading manner if extradited. The judge reportedly rejected all grounds of Davis's arguments. Davis has ten days to appeal the decision.

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Libertas acted as an administrator of the Silk Road, helping customers with their issues and maintaining upkeep of the market.

Davis was charged by the US Department of Justice in 2013 with conspiracy to distribute narcotics, money laundering, and computer hacking, and is facing a maximum of life imprisonment. He was arrested as part of a series of coordinated raids around the world, months after the Silk Road drug marketplace had been shut down. Andrew Michael Jones from Virginia, accused of being staffer "Inigo," and Peter Phillip Nash from Australia, known as "SSBD," were also arrested at the time. (Jones is awaiting sentencing, while Nash was sentenced to time served). Ross Ulbricht, the site's convicted creator, was sentenced to life imprisonment in May of last year.

According to The Times, Davis is also at the centre of a high-profile battle between Microsoft and the Department of Justice. The Justice Department served a warrant for emails belonging to Davis, but because the emails were stored in Ireland—outside of the FBI's jurisdiction—Microsoft refused to comply. In July, a judge ruled that Microsoft did not have to hand over the emails.

"Good work Microsoft!" Davis tweeted at the time. "The content of my emails remains 'secure' (in the sense that Uncle Sam has no right to them!)"

Davis did not respond to a request for comment.