According to Venezuela’s justice ministry, around 300 clients saw over $50 million disappear into the brokerage. By that point the Castillo Bozos, along with a third brother, already held at least six accounts at Credit Suisse, one of which held 122 million Swiss francs, and another almost 36 million francs. Records show that most of the accounts remained open long after news of the scandal broke, with millions of francs flowing through them. The economist told OCCRP that if the total value of government bonds issued between 2003 and 2010 was around $70 billion, intermediaries like the casas de bolsa would have earned around $10-12 billion.
Venezuela’s Black Market
As of 2020, nearly 57% of the dark web was estimated to contain illegal content, including violence and extremist platforms. In 2023, the dark web attracted an average of 2.7 million daily users, with Germany now leading as the country with the highest number of Tor users, surpassing the United States for the first time in years. The first Venezuela stock exchange was founded in 1805 as the Casa de Bolsa y Recreación de los Comerciantes y Labradores in Caracas. Today’s Caracas Stock Exchange or Bolsa de Valores de Caracas (BVC) was founded in 1947 and is the only stock exchange in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s Authorities Hit Black Market Dollar Mafias
González was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2019 for his alleged role in managing accounts through which bribes were paid to Venezuelan politicians as part of a corruption scheme worth $2.4 billion. The Suisse Secrets leak lays bare the extent of the relationship between Credit Suisse and the politically-connected Venezuelan financial sector. Several developments in April 2025 have drawn urgent attention to the growing influence—and risk—posed by these fleets. Nothing contained on the Web site shall be considered a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell a security to any person in any jurisdiction. The materials provided on this Web site are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to provide tax, legal, or investment advice. In the book On Sanctions in Venezuela, economists Asdrubal Oliveros and Juan Palacios show that in 2023, the U.S., Spain and India represented 34% of Venezuelan oil exports, while China and Malaysia took 51.6%.
- Gross domestic product grew 8% in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, after the economy shrank about 80% between 2014 and 2020.
- Many shadow fleet vessels are over 20 years old, and anecdotal reports suggest maintenance and crew standards may be well below international benchmarks.
- The graft compounded Zulia’s fuel shortages, as corrupt officials continued to divert gas to the black market despite the shortfall in supply.
- Archetyp’s takedown might make headlines, but it won’t stop the trade of illicit drugs on the dark web.
- Retailers, restaurants, and small businesses now face audits, hefty fines, and even forced closures for pricing goods using the parallel rate—despite the reality that many imported products are priced in dollars.
- This increases the accessibility and sophistication of cyber threats, with far-reaching consequences for businesses.
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Law enforcement shutdowns are also only one type of disruption that dark web communities face. Dark web market users routinely face voluntary closures (the gradual retirement of a market), exit scams (sudden closures of markets where any money in escrow is taken), or even scheduled maintenance of these markets. What current policing strategies neglect is that dark web markets are not isolated to the storefronts that are the popular target of crackdowns. These are communities stretched across dark and surface web forums which develop shared tutorials and help one another adapt to any new changes.
What Are Darknet Markets?
Many vessels operating within the dark fleet are significantly older, raising concerns about structural integrity and the risk of accidents. Another key insight is that a significant share of this oil ultimately reaches non-sanctioning countries (e.g. India), often at discounted prices (Hilgenstock et al. 2023, Kilian et al. 2024a). This realignment underscores how oil can bypass formal restrictions when substantial buyers remain outside the sanctioning coalition. The months and years after Silk Road’s closure were marked by a greatly increased number of shorter-lived markets as well as semi-regular law enforcement takedowns, hacks, scams and voluntary closures. Beyond drugs, there are now ever-growing examples of generative AI being used for sexual deepfakes across schools and even of public figures, including the recent case of NRL presenter Tiffany Salmond.
A best-selling anti-parasitic drug, Ivermectin, was also briefly touted as a possible cure. Given its widespread use for both humans and animals, a black market for it immediately popped up in Colombia and Ecuador, as well as Peru, where three clandestine laboratories were found producing thousands of doses in May. Since 2020, 2easy has sold massive stealer logs with sensitive data like passwords, bank cards, and initial access credentials. It supports operations in multiple languages and operates on both clearnet and Tor. Also speaking to the news agency, a black-market vendor, identified only as Gustavo, said it was cheaper to buy gasoline from those in Venezuela who receive a quota of government-subsidized oil than to import it from Colombia. Accessing them may require .onion links and the Tor browser, but caution is advised due to legality and cybersecurity risks.
The proliferation of the dark fleet is exacerbating existing geopolitical tensions. The lack of synchronization in sanctions enforcement – with the US focusing on Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, while the EU and UK prioritize Russia – creates loopholes that operators exploit. This fragmented approach undermines the effectiveness of sanctions and allows sanctioned nations to continue funding their economies and potentially, geopolitical ambitions. The situation highlights the need for greater international cooperation and a unified approach to sanctions enforcement. Our research highlights how oil sanctions have far-reaching aggregate effects beyond the targeted economies, often unexpectedly benefiting countries engaged in global trade. These insights are crucial for policymakers, who must account for the intended and unintended consequences of dark shipping on the global supply chain when designing and adapting oil-related sanctions.
What Are Darknets & Dark Markets?
While some view darknet markets as a hub for illegal activities, others see them as a way to access goods that may be restricted or unavailable in their region. Transactions within dark markets predominantly involve cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Monero, or Ethereum. These digital currencies provide a degree of anonymity, as transactions are recorded on a public ledger but do not directly link users to their real-world identities.
US Dollar As Safe Haven
Telegram channels supplement traditional onion sites, blurring lines between the dark web sites and more mainstream communication tools. Today’s cybercriminals spread their activities across multiple platforms, making them harder to track and shut down. Donate today to empower research and analysis about organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the ground up. Sources familiar with the matter say that Rosales struck a deal with the central government in Caracas to bring more fuel to Zulia, even though Venezuela’s oil infrastructure remains in ruins. The latest economic developments were the greatest fears of many Venezuelans ahead of last year’s presidential election.
By consistently applying these straightforward security tips, you can significantly mitigate risks and better protect your privacy, finances, and legal standing when interacting with dark-web marketplaces. Dark-web marketplaces often attract attention due to their association with illicit activities; however, these platforms also serve legitimate purposes that align closely with principles of online privacy and freedom of information. Understanding both the lawful and unlawful scenarios helps provide a balanced view of their practical applications in 2025.
- Senior Editor, NewsJames is an award-winning investigative reporter known for real-time coverage of global events.
- In a region where 50 percent of the population already makes its living in the informal market, it was perhaps of little surprise that black markets exploded in 2020 amidst a worldwide contagion.
- From dark pool markets to escrow networks, this guide maps the underground economy.
- Compared to its predecessors, Archetyp enforced enhanced security expectations from its users.
- He says that the idea was to allow Chevron to recoup its debt while bringing transparency to the sector and limiting cash flows to the Maduro government.
If Eternos indeed rises, there is a good chance for it to become one of the most prominent markets. The second core project, and maybe even more important than Eternos, is the new darknet–- AspaNET. The Hydra crew is probably powerful and rich enough to create their own darknet, as even smaller hacker organizations managed to do so. Figure 4 shows the percentage of shipping origins for all products and counterfeits across all markets. All countries that accounted for 1% or less are aggregated into the category “Other”.
And large Swiss banks, including Credit Suisse, welcomed Venezuelan clients with open arms. Venezuelans involved in the permuta market held fortunes at the lender worth at least 500 million Swiss francs, according to leaked banking data analyzed by journalists as part of the Suisse Secrets project. Credit Suisse employee Francisco “Pancho” Illarramendi led a team at the bank to develop currency trading mechanisms that would later become instrumental to the permuta market. Years later, after he left the bank to set up his own hedge fund, Illarramendi would be convicted of running a massive fraud using that very market. Well before he was sanctioned, González was a key player in the complicated bond-based parallel market that sprang out of Venezuela’s attempts at currency control in the early 2000s.
Classic darknet markets sell diverse illegal goods; data stores focus on leaked or stolen data like credentials, databases, and ID records. Historically, the estimated profits from Venezuela’s contraband gasoline have ranged from millions to billions of dollars annually, even accounting for quickly shifting prices and the absence of official data. Zulia, a state with bountiful oil reserves and the country’s most populous, represented one of this economy’s biggest markets. The global oil market is increasingly shadowed by a clandestine network of tankers – the “dark fleet” – operating outside the bounds of traditional scrutiny.
