I would bet someone just ratted on him then they just traced back from his identity to obtain evidence. He was running the market for years, they would have got him much sooner if they were actually tracing BTC. They will always put out information in a manner that overstates their abilities, it's a psychological trick.
I predict ratting out colleagues, neighbors, even friends and family may soon become a part of our reality in the near future. Mind your OPSEC.
This guy was a scumbag, he shut down the market and stole money from users. Then he tried to extort more money by threatening to publish shipping addresses, as if they had any value.
The Holy Grail - anonymous physical shipping addresses - the place where privacy and security meet.
They could've caught this dumbass years ago with BTC tracing if they really wanted. But actually, they likely wanted this guy to continue what he was doing for as long as possible. For various reasons which you can figure out if you're smart.
But nah, once he exit scammed, they had no more use for him, and him wanting to come to America was just the icing on the cake for a glorious capture to make it look like the all powerful feds captured the deep dark villian of Incognito, as you said, "psychological trick"
Sent that shit straight to his KYC accounts like a dumbass. Not only that, but his resume said that he was an intern, and there's no way an intern is going to be making millions of dollars a year, so the income had to be coming from somewhere else. Even if he hadn't sent it directly to his KYC accounts, that would have been a red flag.
Deserved!
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