Arrested in Colombia: German ran drug marketplace

Taganga (Colombia) – Patrick S. (37) probably earned millions on the Darknet and set up a nice life for himself in a small fishing town in Colombia. He felt safe on the Caribbean coast. Until the Policía Nacional de Colombia knocked on his door, arrested him and extradited him to the USA. The United States accuses the German of running one of the leading marketplaces for illegal goods on the dark web.

“The Versus Project” was active from November 2019 to around May 2022 and had more than 380,000 registered users. Computer criminals sold heroin and other illegal drugs, fake passports, counterfeit money, malware and tools for hackers. The USA accuses the German of having founded and operated the platform. In day-to-day business, he is said to have primarily taken care of customer service and recruiting employees.

Built like Amazon and Co.

Versus was modeled after an e-commerce website. Users could choose a username and password to create a free account for access. They could then search for products using keywords or browse the offers by category.

Product categories on Versus included “Drugs“, “Fraud”, “Digital Items”, “Services” and “Software & Malware”. Although Versus wasn’t a seller, it earned a commission on every transaction. Payment was only made in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Monero. According to the US Department of Justice, Patrick S. is said to have been directly involved in the marketplace’s sales.

German is in custody

The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative unit of ICE, in collaboration with the FBI. As the Ministry of Justice has now announced, the German was arrested in Colombia in June 2024 and extradited to the USA in April 2026. A first hearing took place on Thursday and he is now in custody. The USA is charging Patrick S. with numerous crimes. He could spend the rest of his life in prison.