B.C. judge rejects U.S. extradition request of alleged Silk Road trafficker

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 14, 2025 10:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

A British Columbia Supreme Court justice declined a U.S. petition to extradite a B.C. antheral accused of selling drugs connected the Silk Road online platform, citing insufficient evidence. 

James Ellingson is accused successful the U.S. of trafficking illicit drugs successful speech for bitcoin on Silk Road betwixt 2011 and 2013, the twelvemonth that U.S. instrumentality enforcement authorities unopen down the anonymous online marketplace.

Ellingson was alleged to person operated nether 3 usernames – MarijuanaIsMyMuse, Redandwhite and Lucydrop – to merchantability to customers successful New York City and elsewhere. 

In a determination released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lisa Warren recovered the evidence presented was insufficient.

Warren wrote that bitcoin was transferred from the MarijuanaIsMyMuse Silk Road relationship to anonymous intermediary addresses, and the cryptocurrency was transferred from those addresses to speech accounts controlled by Ellingson, "but determination is nary grounds that Mr. Ellingson controlled the intermediary addresses." 

CBC News reached retired to Ellingson's lawyer, Marilyn Sandford, who said her lawsuit wouldn't remark connected the decision.

Paul McMurray, a Burnaby-based lawyer who is not connected to the case, said it's comparatively uncommon for a Canadian justice to contradict an extradition request. 

"The United States makes rather a fewer extradition requests to Canada and, particularly successful caller years, they look to person their tackle successful bid successful filing the due documentation containing capable grounds to warrant extradition," helium said. "So this 1 was a spot of a rarity."

McMurray said the determination could beryllium appealed oregon U.S. officials could record different petition to effort to "fill successful the holes" that were identified by the justice.