Guilty plea entered by Skynet Market carding marketplace founder

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Skynet Market founder Michael Mihalo, also known as Dale Michael Mihalo Jr. and ggmccloud1, has entered a guilty plea for leading the operations of the darknet marketplace for stolen credit and debit card data, according to The Hacker News. Over $1 million worth of cryptocurrencies have been earned by Mihalo in selling stolen financial information not only in Skynet Market but also in other dark web markets, including Wall Street Market, AlphaBay Market, and Hansa Market, from February 2016 to October 2019, noted the Justice Department. "Mihalo personally possessed, sent, and received the information associated with 49,084 stolen payment cards with the intent that the payment card information would be trafficked on darknet sites, all in furtherance of the conspiracy," the Justice Department said in a statement. Aside from facing up to five years imprisonment for a count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and up to 10 years each for a count of access device fraud and six counts of money laundering, Mihalo has also been directed to return all illicit proceeds. Meanwhile, Taylor Ross Staats, a co-conspirator of Mihalo, has also entered a guilty plea for performing card-checking activities and faces up to five years imprisonment for a count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud.