Gary Davis gets bail in extradition appeal over Silk Road site

Gary Davis, the Wicklow man alleged to have been an administrator of the Silk Road website that dealt with illegal drugs and hacking software, has appealed the High Court's order he be extradited to the US. He has been granted bail.

Mr Davis (27), of Johnstown Court in Kilpedder, is wanted by US authorities on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and conspiracy to commit money-laundering.

Mr Davis, who has Asperger’s Syndrome and depression, had opposed the request. Among his points of objection, he said that, if extradited, he would be detained in an inhuman and degrading manner. If convicted in the US, Mr Davis could receive a life sentence.

Lawyers for the Attorney General said that Davis should be surrendered to the US and, earlier this month, the order was made by Mr Justice Paul McDermott.

The Silk Road, which was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013, was an underground website that hosted a “sprawling black market bazaar” on the internet.

Mr Davis is accused of acting as a site administrator on the Silk Road website using the name "Libertas". The site was launched in 2011. It was created and run by American Ross William Ulbricht under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts".

Ulbricht was charged and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. The site offered anonymity to its users, where trades were conducted in the online currency bitcoins.

The US authorities claim between June 2013 and October 2013, Mr Davis was a site administrator of the Silk Road website and had an “explicit knowledge of the items for sale on the website”.

The drugs available on the site included heroin, LSD, cocaine and amphetamines. It was claimed that, as part of his role, Mr Davis dealt with queries from the site users, and had reorganised into different categories certain items that could be purchased on the website.