Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit onfinance.org.

I have a good story for you today, the story of Apostolos Trovius, a Greek man who was arrested in

Peru and charged by the SEC with perpetrating a fraudulent scheme of all things to sell

what he called insider trading tips on the dark web. I was hoping to put some affiliate

links to the websites he used in the description below to try and make a bit of affiliate marketing

money, but it seems that Alpha Bay, the website that he used, was shut

down around four years ago, and the feds are still pretty busy arresting and charging

the people who used it.

According to the complained, Trovia's using the online avatar, The Bull, engaged in a deceptive

scheme to sell insider trading tips on dark web marketplaces. The Bull engaged in a deceptive scheme to sell insider trading tips on dark web marketplaces.

The Bull claimed that the information he was selling consisted of order book data from a securities trading firm that was provided to him by an employee of that firm.

The complaint states that he acknowledged that this information was sensitive

and more importantly, illegal to use or share. You could buy these tips either one by one

or by signing up to a weekly or monthly service. How 2020s is it that you can buy illegal

tips as a subscription service?

Everyone loves recurring revenue streams, even criminals.

I know you're all wondering what do these insider trading tips cost?

Well, one illegal tip costs 2995, the weekly plan was 9995, and the monthly plan came in at $299.

I like that he didn't price his illegal tips at round numbers and I'm not sure if those prices include taxes or not.

In fact, I'm not really sure how taxes work on the dark web.

If you have purchased illegal goods or services on the dark web. If you have purchased illegal goods or services

on the dark web and know about the tax implications, do let us all know in the comments section

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