FLORIDA – A man who sold and mailed the poisons ricin and abrin from Florida to international purchasers plead guilty Tuesday in federal court to producing and smuggling toxins, officials said.
Jesse William Korff, 19, of LaBelle, Florida, had been charged with five counts of developing, producing, transferring and possessing toxins, five counts of smuggling toxins along with one count of conspiring to kill a woman in England, officials said.
Korff sold ricin and abrin to international purchasers in India, Austria, Denmark and England. He smuggled the toxins from Florida to the international purchasers by concealing the poisons in packages sent through the U.S. Postal Service, according to authorities.
“Jesse Korff admitted producing and selling potentially deadly toxins to strangers over the Internet,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. “Working in the shadows of a secretive computer network favored by cybercriminals, he peddled his poison on a virtual black market of illegal and dangerous goods. Today he admitted he was in the midst of aiding an overseas customer in an attempted murder. Thankfully, an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a buyer was able get Korff off the street before he could conclude the transaction.”
According to the evidence filed in this case, this is what happened:
- In April 2013 Homeland Security Investigations special agents began investigating illicit sales activity on an underground Internet marketplace known as “Black Market Reloaded.”
- The website provided a platform for vendors and buyers to conduct anonymous online transactions involving biological agents, toxins, firearms, ammunition, explosives, narcotics and counterfeit items.
- From August 2013 through January 2014 Korff maintained a seller’s profile on BMR under the screen name “Snowman840.” He advertised the sale of deadly toxins and provided his prospective purchasers with information about quantities necessary to kill a person of a given weight, along with instructions on how to secretly administer the toxin to avoid suspicion.
- Korff sold ricin and abrin to international purchasers in India, Austria, Denmark and England. He smuggled the toxins from Florida to the international purchasers by concealing the toxins in packages sent through the U.S. Postal Service.
- In December 2013 Korff provided a quantity of abrin to a purchaser in London who claimed she intended to kill her mother. After the purchaser’s receipt and administration of the initial dose, which she claimed was ineffective, Korff agreed to provide a second quantity of the toxin in order to assist the purchaser in the implementation of the murder plot.
- Before Korff had an opportunity to smuggle the second dose of abrin to the London purchaser, a federal undercover agent contacted Korff through BMR and negotiated the sale of two liquid doses of abrin.
- Korff told the buyer about his delivery methods—concealing vials in a carved-out and re-melted candle—and discussed how much abrin was needed to kill a person of a particular weight and how best to administer the toxin. Korff also assured the buyer that a victim’s death would appear to be similar to a bad case of the flu.
- Following Korff’s arrest, FBI agents searched Korff’s property over three days and recovered several computers, castor beans, rosary peas, capsules, vials, jars, syringes, filters, respirators and other items commonly utilized in the manufacture, production, sale, packaging, and shipping of toxins and chemical substances.
- Among the items recovered was a liquid dose of abrin that Korff had intended to ship to the London purchaser.
Korff Could Get a Long Prison Sentence
Korff is facing up to life in prison for the toxin and murder conspiracy charges along with a $250,000 fine.
In addition, the smuggling charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
He is scheduled for sentencing in November.