U.S. prosecutors say a 49-year-old German man who allegedly helped run Dream Market, once among the darknet’s largest marketplaces before it shut in 2019, has finally been tracked down. Authorities in Germany arrested Owe Martin Andresen on May 7, 2026, and he now faces parallel money laundering cases in both Germany and the United States. Investigators say Andresen used the handle “Speedstepper” and quietly moved millions through cryptocurrency wallets and gold purchases, activity that led to a federal indictment earlier this year.
Indictment and seizures
A federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment on Jan. 13, 2026, charging Andresen with international concealment money laundering and concealment money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. When authorities executed searches on May 7, they reported finding roughly $1.7 million in gold bars, about $1.2 million in bank and cryptocurrency funds, and more than $23,000 in cash.
Prosecutors allege the laundering scheme stretched from August 2023 through April 2025. Each of the federal counts carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison, setting up a high-stakes legal fight if the case reaches a U.S. courtroom.
How investigators say he moved the money
According to charging documents summarized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Andresen allegedly tapped into dormant “Dream Wallets” in late 2022, accessing administrator commissions tied to the old marketplace. Investigators say those funds were consolidated into new cryptocurrency wallets, then gradually cashed out.
Local reporting adds another Atlanta angle. Prosecutors allege that in August 2023, Andresen used an Atlanta-based cryptocurrency service provider to purchase gold bars from international sellers and have them shipped to Germany, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Federal filings and court materials put the total value of those transactions at more than $2 million in alleged laundering proceeds.
Scale of the marketplace
To a federal grand jury, investigators sketched out just how big Dream Market allegedly was before it went dark. Court materials reported by WSBTV indicate the marketplace facilitated roughly 90 kilograms of heroin, 450 kilograms of cocaine, 45 kilograms of methamphetamine and 36 kilograms of fentanyl. At its height, the site hosted close to 100,000 listings for illegal goods and services, investigators say.
Those kinds of numbers are part of why law enforcement has continued to chase suspected administrators years after the site shut down, arguing that the people who ran the platform bear responsibility for the massive volume of illicit trade it enabled.
Legal next steps
For now, Andresen sits at the center of two criminal cases at once. He faces U.S. federal charges in Atlanta and separate money laundering counts in Germany, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Whether German courts will ultimately agree to extradite him to the United States remains an open question, and officials on both sides of the Atlantic say coordination is ongoing.
Andresen is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. U.S. prosecutors say they plan to pursue the case to trial if and when they secure jurisdiction over him.
Why Atlanta matters
Beyond the international intrigue, the case throws a spotlight on how Atlanta-area cryptocurrency businesses can become unwitting waypoints for global criminal networks. The allegations may lead to tighter scrutiny of firms that specialize in turning digital assets into tangible commodities like gold.
Federal agencies involved in the investigation include IRS Criminal Investigation and the DEA, which lauded the cross-border teamwork in statements reported by WSBTV. For now, investigators are poring over transaction records and navigating overlapping legal proceedings in both countries as the high-profile case moves forward.
