Iranian National Indicted for Operating Nemesis Darknet Marketplace, Facilitating $30M in Drug Sales

A US grand jury has indicted Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad for his role in operating the Nemesis darknet marketplace. The indictment alleges that Parsarad founded Nemesis in March 2021, and over the course of three years, the platform facilitated the sale of illicit cyberservices and drugs to over 150,000 users worldwide, with around 1,100 vendor accounts registered on the site.

Nemesis processed over 400,000 orders between its launch and March 2024, when authorities from the US, Germany, and Lithuania seized its servers and shut it down. Of these orders, 55,000 were for stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine, while 17,000 were for opioids like heroin and fentanyl. The platform had processed almost $30 million in drug sales prior to its closure.

In addition to dealing in prohibited materials, the indictment also charges Parsarad with offering money laundering services. Nemesis was used to mix the cryptocurrencies used to pay for goods and services, making it difficult to trace the transactions. Parsarad reportedly collected a percentage of every sale transacted on Nemesis’s platform.

Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, stated that the allegations in this indictment span over four hundred thousand transactions involving fentanyl, other dangerous drugs, and a wide range of contraband made accessible on the darknet for more than three years. Parsarad faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum life sentence. The case is being prosecuted by DoJ Trial Attorney Gaelin Bernstein and Assistant U.S. Attorney Segev Phillips for the Northern District of Ohio.

Parsarad currently resides in Iran, with which the United States does not have an extradition treaty. He may therefore escape justice, with Parsarad having discussed setting up a replacement for Nemesis, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. At the same time, no other individual has been charged or arrested in connection with the operation of Nemesis.

For some security experts, this could be considered surprising, insofar as Parsarad would likely have needed help to operate a marketplace the size of Nemesis. Ari Redbord, the Head of Legal and Government Affairs at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, explained that a darknet marketplace of Nemesis’s size typically requires a broader operational team, including administrators, moderators, escrow agents, technical developers and “money laundering facilitators.”

Redbord added that these platforms often involve distributed teams with clearly defined roles to ensure uptime, user trust, dispute resolution, and secure cash-out mechanisms. While the Department of Justice has used the indictment to highlight its commitment to protecting communities from the harms caused by fentanyl and darknet marketplaces, there still remains an ongoing risk of such harms.

This is particularly the case when a significant number of darknet marketplaces are still in operation. TRM Labs assesses that approximately 20 to 30 significant drug-focused DNMs are active at any given time. This number has remained relatively stable over the years due to risk, profitability, and law enforcement pressure. The typical lifespan of a drug-focused DNM is around two to three years, at which point it’s either abandoned or shut down.

These marketplaces generally fall into two major ecosystems, Russian and Western. The Russian-language DNM ecosystem, built around dead-drop delivery methods, is the largest, with 4–5 dominant platforms and several smaller ones operating mainly within the region. Russian-based DNMs such as Blacksprut and Kraken Market generate substantial profits, are technologically advanced, and have become deeply embedded in regional drug economies.

In contrast, Western, English-based DNMs—such as Abacus Market and STYX Market—are smaller but more resilient, relying on postal delivery systems and operating more internationally. The ongoing operation of these marketplaces highlights the persistent challenge of combating illicit activities on the darknet, despite efforts by law enforcement agencies to shut them down.