‘Social Outcast’ Behind $ 17 Million Dark Web Drug Syndicate

A 26-year-old man who makes thousands of dollars a day selling drugs on the dark web told a court that he “didn’t take it very seriously” and that he “used to role-play drug dealer” in teenage video games.

Cody Ronald Ward pleaded guilty in New South Wales District Court to multiple drug-related offenses, including six for importing or supplying large commercial quantities of banned and controlled drugs at the border, each count carrying a maximum chain sentence life.

At his sentencing hearing before Judge Robyn Tupman on Thursday, Ward said he hopes to stay in jail for “a large part” of his life.

“It was all naive and immature stupidity,” he said.

He was arrested in February 2019 because the mastermind of a drug syndicate that police allege had dealt in drugs worth $ 17 million, including MDMA, ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines.

“When I was 17, I used to role-play as a drug dealer and drug supplier,” said Ward, from the “very small” town of Callala Bay on the south coast.

“I used to get very involved in role-playing games where you were deeply involved in a character like you would as an actor.

“It felt very similar (the offense), but instead of being rich in a game, you make money in real life.”

Appearing via video link, Ward said he began selling drugs on the dark web around 2015 and had a gross income of “thousands a day.”

“I was fascinated with cryptocurrency and obviously what went hand in hand (at the time) … was the drug markets,” he said.

The dark web, not visible to search engines and accessed through a special browser, is used to keep Internet activity anonymous and private.

Ward said it would create vendor accounts in these markets, “similar to how you would set up an eBay account,” under the name “NSWGreat.”

“You would have access to then list the drugs, receive orders and mark them as shipped, etc.,” he said.

“Markets come and go. They would last a year or two.

“You would move when the websites are taken down, whether the owners make exit plans or the police take them down.”

But the result was like a “hydra effect,” he said, referring to the Greek legend of the Hydra monster from Lernaean.

“If you cut off his head, nine more (markets) show up,” Ward said.

His co-offenders, Shanese Koullias, 24, and her sister Patricia Koullias, 22, are also awaiting sentencing for their roles in the union, including supplying banned drugs.

Judge Tupman said photographs of the trio released to the media after their arrests gave them the impression that they had been “living a good life” and that the women appeared to be “some kind of high-profile socialist person.”

Ward told the court that he was harassed “quite a bit” at school, and agreed with his attorney Kieran Ginges’ suggestion that he had been “obese” and a “social outcast.”

“In real life I was a loser, nobody, nobody cared to talk to me, everyone despised me,” he said.

“Online, everyone was admiring me, everyone wanted to talk to me.”

He said he had a friend or two, before he started using and selling drugs, and “has always been in love” with Shanese Koullias.

“We were best friends growing up,” he said Thursday.

“She supported me in things and I supported her in things.”

Ward said he would send him the “distribution book” after taking care of all the administration: ordering, customer service and accounting.

The 26-year-old was “significantly addicted to heroin” when he was caught, according to a report by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Allnutt.

“I was completely screwed up by drugs,” Ward said, adding that it led to a lot of “mistakes.”

When asked during cross-examination how he had maintained his 4.94-star rating on the Dream Market darknet market if he was so “high,” Ward said he often reimbursed customers, solved their problems, or compensated them with more drugs. before they left a negative result. feedback.

‘WHITE WHITE’ FOR EXTORTION

Ward was also questioned about his wealth after alleging that the bikes made an “extortion attempt” while he was being held at the Goulburn Supermax prison.

“They had thrown me with knives, they had threatened my life,” he told the court.

“They had taken me to the corner of the courtyards where there were no cameras.

“They told me to phone and tell my father to send them the money. My father knew more and contacted the prison.”

Police confiscated a Maserati and a Mercedes Benz at the time of Ward’s arrest.

Judge Tupman asked Thursday: “Do any news articles related to your arrest show photos of you with high-powered sports cars?”

“Yes, correct,” Ward replied.

He said he had traded bitcoins, but “cashed in and bought a brilliant car,” being the $ 70,000 Mercedes Benz, and he also had a 2002 Mitsubishi EVO that cost $ 15,000.

However, the Maserati had set it back a fraction of its usual price because it was not registered and it was a legal cancellation.

Mr. Ginges asked, “Did you have a Maserati that sounds very fancy but only costs $ 7000?”

“Correct,” Ward replied.

He admitted that a photograph with a McLaren was of him standing next to “a car that I just saw in a parking lot.”

The judge asked Ward if everyone in Callala Bay and Callala Beach knew him, to which he replied, “Of course, I grew up there.”

She added: “Would everyone have known or at least assumed if you or your family members had money?”

“Yes,” he said.

Ward, who said he was an “easy target” for the alleged extortion, was segregated “for a long time” afterward, but is in a different correctional facility.

Mr. Ginges asked his client, “What kind of person do you want to be when you get out of jail?”

“I want to be a respectable man. I want to work, I want to have a family, I want to be fit, healthy, I want to be someone that I can make my father proud of, not like what I’ve done now.” ,” he said.

Ward said he lost 25 kilograms after 22 months in custody, visits the church weekly, and was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.

His father was in court but was unable to see him due to the audiovisual link setup.

Ward said he now has a “surprisingly close and honest” relationship with his parents, but realizes that he will never see his sick and elderly father out of jail again.

“Unfortunately I’m going to be here a long time,” he said.

OFFENDERS RETURN TO REALITY

Acting New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner Stuart Smith said the disruption of the vast and sophisticated network required great technical skill and cyber-surveillance techniques and was “probably the first and largest penetration of the dark web in Australia”.

“This guy (Ward) was a very capable hacker,” he told reporters in February 2019.

“He used techniques to prohibit surveillance.

“We needed to change gears to face this guy.

“He learned his skill when he was young and is now a highly capable individual using very complex systems that are often used by government agencies.”

Smith said Ward and the two Koullias sisters “ventured back into the real world” when they were arrested.

“We are dealing with a generation of people who handle information differently,” he said.

Patricia and Shanese Koullias will be sentenced on Friday. Ward’s sentencing hearing will resume in February of next year.