The Justice Department announced that it has raided the “world’s largest” child sexual exploitation marketplace on the dark web, arrested 338 pedophiles, and saving at least 23 children who were being actively abused by users of the site.
According to the DOJ release, they have evidence the sickening darknet site dedicated to the most vile forms of child abuse was accessed from within the US Senate.
Only federal agents working an investigation are allowed to access sites that contain child pornography. While lawmakers have a lot of flexibility and freedoms, this is not one of them.
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The Justice Department press release:
Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action. Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea. An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged.
Two pedophiles committed suicide after the execution of search warrants, according to the DOJ.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division put the sheer magnitude of the historical bust into perspective, describing the exploiters of children as “among the most vile and reprehensible” criminals.
“Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,” said “This Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield.”
U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu said the investigation is not over yet and perpetrators will “receive the punishment their terrible crimes deserve.“
“Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by U.S. and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” said Liu. “We will continue to pursue such criminals on and off the darknet in the United States and abroad, to ensure they receive the punishment their terrible crimes deserve.”
The DOJ press release indicated the popularity of the site and the scope of the problem — with pedophiles buried inside major US tech corporations and government and military departments.
We found individuals accessed the dark web site from the networks of the U.S. Army Intelligence, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung and several universities around the world.
The agencies have shared data from the seized server with law enforcement around the world to assist in identifying and prosecuting customers of the site. This has resulted in leads sent to 38 countries and yielded arrests of 337 subjects around the world. The operation has resulted in searches of residences and businesses of approximately 92 individuals in the United States. Notably, the operation is responsible for the rescue of at least 23 minor victims residing in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, who were being actively abused by the users of the site.
In the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, the operation has led to the execution of five search warrants and eight arrests of individuals who both conspired with the administrator of the site and were themselves, users of the website. Two users of the Darknet market committed suicide subsequent to the execution of search warrants.
