An FBI informant reportedly handled the majority of activity on Incognito Market—one of the largest drug marketplaces on the dark web—for nearly two years, even as fentanyl-laced pills linked to the platform caused fatal overdoses across the United States. Court documents indicate that the unnamed confidential source managed roughly 95% of transactions on the site between 2022 and 2024, effectively helping operate the $100 million marketplace.
According to filings, the informant approved vendor listings, mediated disputes among users, and oversaw cryptocurrency payments on the platform. These activities allegedly continued even after buyers warned about near-fatal overdoses connected to certain suppliers.
Taiwanese national Rui-Siang Lin, who used the alias “Pharoah,” created Incognito Market and ran it from October 2020 until March 2024. The Tor-based platform hosted nearly 1,800 vendors who sold drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and opioids to hundreds of thousands of buyers worldwide.
In October, Judge Colleen McMahon sentenced Lin to 30 years in federal prison and ordered him to forfeit $105 million. The judge described him as a “drug kingpin,” despite the defense raising serious questions about the extent of FBI involvement in the operation.
During sentencing in Manhattan federal court, Arkansas physician David Churchill spoke about the death of his son Reed in September 2022. The 22-year-old died after taking fentanyl-laced oxycodone pills purchased through Incognito Market. The drugs were supplied by a vendor known as RedLightLabs, whose operators—Michael Ta and Raj Srinivasan—later pleaded guilty to charges tied to five overdose deaths.
Churchill asked Lin to remember his son’s face while serving his sentence. However, the revelation that the FBI’s own confidential asset was moderating the marketplace at the time of Reed’s death added another troubling dimension to the case.
When Law Enforcement Becomes the Accomplice
Lin’s defense team argued that the FBI informant functioned more like a partner than an undercover observer. According to defense filings, the government’s source did more than infiltrate the marketplace—it played a central operational role.
Documents suggest the informant approved vendors, handled user complaints, and processed transactions while allegedly overlooking warnings about fentanyl contamination in certain drug listings.
In November 2023, users reported severe overdoses and hospitalizations tied to a particular vendor who nevertheless continued fulfilling more than 1,000 orders. Court records also show the informant debated Lin about maintaining bans on fentanyl, reportedly advocating for “free markets” before Lin conducted a user poll—later described as rigged—that maintained the prohibition.
Defense attorney Noam Biale described the situation as a joint operation, saying: “The government had the ability to mitigate the harm—and didn’t do it.”
Judge McMahon also questioned the length of the investigation, asking why authorities allowed the marketplace to remain active for such an extended period after gaining access.
Prosecutors, however, argued that the informant was simply following Lin’s instructions as part of a broader strategy to identify “Pharaoh.” Authorities ultimately traced Lin through blockchain analysis and seized servers tied to the marketplace.
While Lin’s 30-year sentence remains in place, his planned appeal and the debate surrounding the informant’s role indicate that the legal and ethical questions surrounding the Incognito Market investigation are far from resolved.
