Using an underground web site called “Black Market Reloaded,” a Florida man peddled deadly ricin and another toxin, abrin, advising prospective buyers as to what quantities they’d need to kill a person, based on the target’s weight.
One buyer, a London woman, said she wanted to kill her mother in a plot that law enforcement officers broke up, federal prosecutors say.
On Wednesday, Jesse Korff, 20, of Labelle, Fla., was sentenced to over nine years in prison for selling the poisonS in a case that underscores the huge challenges facing the FBI and other law enforcement agencies as they try to thwart the proliferation of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in the internet age.
Korff pleaded guilty last Aug. 14 in federal court in Newark to five felony counts alleging that he developed, produced, transferred and possessed the toxins, another five counts accusing him of smuggling toxins and a single count of conspiring to kill a person in a foreign country.
“Jesse Korff peddled his poison in a shadowy, online network favored by cybercriminals,” said Paul Fishman, U.S. attorney in Newark. “He also offered guidance on its effective use, and his sentence today appropriately took account of his participation with an overseas customer in an attempted murder plot. Fortunately, law enforcement was able to intercede before Korff could conclude his deadly transaction.”
According to papers filed in and statements made in court:
--From at least August 2013 through January 2014, Korff advertised the lethal agents on the underground web site, which facilitates anonymous transactions for illegal items. Investigators for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement opened an inquiry into his dealings in April 2013.
--Korff, using the name “Snowman840,” offered detailed instructions on how to administer the toxin to avoid suspicion from law enforcement officials. He sold quantities of ricin and abrin to buyers in India, Austria, Denmark and England, smuggling the toxins by concealing vials inside candles sent through the U.S. mail.
--In December 2013, he provided abrin to the London woman who purportedly wanted to kill her mother, but the first dose was ineffective. Korff then agreed to provide a second shipment to help his customer carry out her murder plot.
--However, before he could send the second dose, Korff was contacted by an undercover agent who posed as a prospective buyer of abrin. During lengthy online conversations, Korff disclosed how he concealed vials in carved out, then re-melted candles. He said that a victim’s symptoms would mimic a lethal case of the flu, and the toxin wouldn’t normally be identified in an autopsy.
--Korff agreed to sell the undercover agent two doses of abrin, which can be fatal within 36 to 72 hours after ingestion of even a tiny amount, for $2,500. He designated a pickup spot at a rest stop 10 miles outside of Fort Myers, Fla.
--After the exchange occurred, Korff was arrested on Jan. 18, 2014.
In a three-day search of his property, federal agents seized computers, castor beans used to make ricin, rosary peas, capsules, vials, jars, syringes, filters, respirators and other items commonly used to produce and package toxins and chemical substances. Among items recovered was the second liquid dose of abrin intended for the woman in London.
Information and evidence gathered in the case was shared with, and successfully used by, authorities in Denmark and Austria to disrupt criminal activities in those countries.
Besides prison time, U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson sentenced Korff to five years of supervised release and fined him $1,000.