A former Bellevue resident who assisted in the management of an illicit good website called the Silk Road 2.0 was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday.

Brian Richard Farrell, 27, was convicted for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances for his work under the moniker “DoctorClu” on the website.

“You’re not going to find much of a bigger fish than me,” Farrell reportedly told agents during questioning about other Silk Road staff.

Silk Road 2.0 was a hidden website on what is called the “dark web” that was created in November 2013 designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services anonymously. It was designed to conceal the true IP addresses of computers that used the network, and thereby the identity of the users. Because of that, it was used by thousands of drug dealers and other vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to buyers throughout the world, as well as to launder millions of dollars generated by these unlawful transactions, according to the Department of Justice.

As of September 2014, Silk Road 2.0 was generating sales of approximately $8 million per month and had approximately 150,000 active users.

Farrell was reportedly one of a small staff of online administrators and forum moderators who worked under operators Ross Ulbricht a.k.a “Dread Pirate Roberts” and Blake Benthall a.k.a. “Defcon”. Investigators became aware of Farrell’s role after they arrested Ulbricht and Benthall, and found that he was involved in activities such as approving new staff and vendors for the website, and organizing a denial of service attack on a competitor.

He was detained in Chicago by Customs and Border Protection officers while returning home from Europe in December 2014 and refused to provide investigators with pass codes to several computer devices or explain why he was traveling with so many digital devices, according to an affidavit. Those items were seized and forwarded to Homeland Security Investigations in Seattle.

The affidavit also stated that Farrell’s roommate described the former Microsoft contractor as bragging about being a hacker with ties to the “Anonymous” collective. He also told authorities Farrell has an “astonishing” drug habit, and receives packages in the mail frequently.

When a search warrant was served at Farrell’s Bellevue home in January 2015, agents seized $35,000 in cash as well as silver bullion and various types of drug paraphernalia.

“As one of the key masterminds and coordinator of the Silk Road criminal marketplace, Farrell profited from the destruction of untold lives,” said Brad Bench, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Seattle. “Criminals who operate digital black markets and those who trade their illicit goods on them quite mistakenly believe they are above the law. It is one of HSI’s top priorities to shut down these hidden websites and bring their criminal operators and customers to justice.”