https://darkwebinformer.com/german-national-indicted-over-money-laundering-tied-to-defunct-dream-market-darknet-marketplace/

Federal prosecutors have charged Owe Martin Andresen, a 49-year-old German citizen believed to have served as the lead administrator of the once-massive darknet marketplace Dream Market, with laundering more than $2 million in proceeds tied to the site's commission accounts. German authorities arrested Andresen last week on parallel charges of their own.

According to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, Andresen is accused of funneling commissions generated from the sale of illicit narcotics, stolen personal data, forged identity documents, and other contraband through a series of cryptocurrency wallets, and even converting a sizable share of the proceeds into physical gold bars. Hertzberg credited cooperation between U.S. and German investigators for making the dual prosecution possible.

Kareem Carter, who leads the IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Crimes Unit in Washington, D.C., said the case underscores how digital criminals leave behind traceable financial trails no matter how long they remain dormant. DEA Miami Special Agent in Charge Miles Aley added that traffickers have increasingly leaned on technology to push narcotics into communities, and that law enforcement is determined to shut those avenues down.

A marketplace built on Tor and crypto

Dream Market first appeared online in 2013 and grew into one of the largest illegal marketplaces ever to operate on the dark web, often hosting close to 100,000 active listings. Over its six-year run, court filings allege it facilitated the sale of staggering quantities of drugs, including roughly 90 kilograms of heroin, 450 kilograms of cocaine, 25 kilograms of crack, 45 kilograms of methamphetamine, 13 kilograms of oxycodone, and 36 kilograms of fentanyl.

Both buyers and vendors used the Tor anonymity network to reach the site and relied on cryptocurrency to obscure their transactions, a combination that fueled the marketplace's rapid growth.

Earlier investigations brought down several figures who helped run the platform. Administrators known online as "Oxymonster" and "KITT3N" were convicted in cases handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. A mid-level moderator who went by "GOWRON" was prosecuted in the United Kingdom. But the marketplace's top administrator, known only by the handle "Speedstepper," remained unidentified for years.

When law enforcement scrutiny intensified in 2019, Dream Market's operators announced they were closing the site voluntarily. The cryptocurrency wallets holding the administrators' commissions, however, were left largely untouched.

Dormant wallets reactivated

According to the indictment, those wallets came back to life in late 2022, when Andresen allegedly accessed them and moved the contents into newly consolidated crypto wallets, a transfer that prosecutors say could only have been carried out by someone holding Dream Market's original private keys, pointing investigators toward "Speedstepper."

Several months later, in August 2023, Andresen is alleged to have used an Atlanta-based crypto service to buy gold bars from international suppliers, instructing the sellers to ship them to his home in Germany. German investigators uncovered additional laundering activity on their side of the Atlantic. Altogether, prosecutors say Andresen laundered over $2 million between August 2023 and April 2025.

On May 7, German and U.S. authorities executed a coordinated operation, arresting Andresen and searching three locations. Investigators seized approximately $1.7 million worth of gold bars said to have been bought with Dream Market funds, more than $23,000 in cash, and records pointing to bank accounts and crypto wallets holding roughly another $1.2 million believed to be Dream Market proceeds.

The charges

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned the indictment on January 13, 2026. Andresen faces six counts of international concealment money laundering and six counts of concealment money laundering. Each U.S. count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. German authorities have filed several concealment money laundering charges of their own, each punishable by up to five years.

As with any indictment, the charges are allegations, and Andresen is presumed innocent unless and until convicted at trial.

The case is being investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Crimes Unit and the DEA Miami Counternarcotic Cyber Investigations Task Force, with significant help from German partners including the Bundeskriminalamt Cybercrime Unit and the Zentrale Kriminalinspektion Oldenburg. The original Dream Market probe, which ran from 2016 to 2022, was led by a multi-agency task force that included the DEA, IRS-CI, USPIS, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bethany L. Rupert is prosecuting the current case, with assistance from the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs.