In a major blow to global cybercrime and online drug trafficking, a federal grand jury has indicted Behrouz Parsarad, an Iranian national, for operating Nemesis Market, one of the world’s largest and most dangerous dark web marketplaces for narcotics and criminal services.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Parsarad, 36, of Tehran, created Nemesis Market in March 2021. Over the next three years, the site facilitated over 400,000 transactions involving illegal drugs, counterfeit documents, stolen financial data, hacking tools, and even money laundering services — all paid exclusively in cryptocurrency.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Genesis Market, a major cybercrime marketplace known for selling stolen device credentials and sensitive personal information. Operating on both the clearnet and darknet, Genesis Market illegally accessed victim devices and packages stolen data—such as usernames, passwords, and device identifiers—for sale. As of early 2023, it had around 460,000 compromised device profiles listed.
At its peak, Nemesis boasted over 150,000 users and more than 1,100 vendors worldwide.
“This was not just an online drugstore. Nemesis Market was a global criminal empire hidden behind anonymity and encryption,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This indictment is a product of relentless collaboration with our German and Lithuanian partners. We’ve dismantled the infrastructure and shut the doors to a marketplace that profited off the drug epidemic.”
A Global Market for Lethal Substances
Investigators say more than 55,000 of the market’s orders were for stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine, and over 17,000 were for opioids including heroin, oxycodone, and fentanyl — the synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of U.S. overdose deaths annually.
Undercover purchases confirmed that many of the substances sold through Nemesis contained fentanyl, heroin, or protonitazene — all Schedule I or II controlled substances, with high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.
“This platform pumped deadly substances into our communities from behind a keyboard,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik of the Northern District of Ohio. “Whether on the street or in the shadows of the internet, drug traffickers will be found and held accountable.”
Money Laundering and Cryptocurrencies
Parsarad is also charged with money laundering conspiracy for operating a cryptocurrency mixing service within Nemesis. This feature allowed buyers and sellers to conceal their digital transactions, effectively shielding the origin of drug money and other illicit proceeds.
Nemesis forbade any use of traditional, government-backed currencies — another tactic to stay ahead of regulators and law enforcement.
On March 20, 2024, coordinated international action led to the seizure of Nemesis Market servers. The takedown was followed in March 2025 by U.S. Treasury sanctions against Parsarad, who now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison if convicted.
According to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Nemesis facilitated more than $30 million in illegal drug sales between 2021 and 2024.
The marketplace had been linked to attacks on U.S. companies and government organizations, including a 2021 breach where hackers stole proprietary data using access bought from Genesis. Believed to be based in Russia, Genesis Market is now subject to U.S. sanctions under Executive Orders targeting foreign cyber threats.
This action, coordinated with the Department of Justice and international partners, also includes domain seizures and law enforcement operations against Genesis Market users in multiple countries. Treasury emphasized this is part of a broader strategy to combat darknet markets and cyber-enabled financial crimes.
Global Cooperation Brought Nemesis Down
The case marks another major success for the FBI-led Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) task force, an interagency effort involving the DEA, Homeland Security, IRS-CI, Postal Inspection Service, Department of Defense, and Customs and Border Protection.
The investigation received critical support from law enforcement partners in Germany, Lithuania, Türkiye, and the British Virgin Islands, as well as from cybercrime experts at Eurojust and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
“Nemesis Market was a borderless powerhouse of criminal activity,” said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Charles Johnston. “Its reach was global, but so is our determination to stop it.”
Parsarad remains innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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