On July 12, 2017, Alexandre Cazes was found dead in his cell in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was being held by order of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), pending extradition to the United States. The thesis of suicide was accepted, even if the circumstances related to his death remain unclear to this day.
For those around the 25-year-old young man from Trois-Rivières, the news fell like a ton of bricks: few people suspected that the computer prodigy was using his talents for criminal purposes.
His relatives, including his mother, will open up publicly to shed light on this story in Alpha_02 : the Alexandre Cazes mysterywhich is currently filming.
This is the first time his mother has spoken to the media. RCMP [Gendarmerie royale du Canada] talks to us, US authorities talk to us, prosecutors, IRS [l’agence du revenu fédérale américaine]… We are also going to Thailand, where we are in contact with the authorities
summarizes Simon Coutu, who has been working on the file for five years.
A turnover of one billion dollars
Before his arrest, Alexandre Cazes led an ultra-luxurious lifestyle in Thailand, where he had resided for four years. In addition to his fortune in cryptocurrencies, currencies which he had anticipated soaring early on, he also owned several luxury cars and properties through which he could launder his money.
At the time, the FBI claimed that AlphaBay was the world’s largest illicit online sales marketsurpassing even the sprawling Silk Road website, shut down by authorities in 2013. The platform reportedly served more than 200,000 buyers and was frequented by 40,000 sellers.
Behind the appearance of a consultant and a legitimate computer worker, [Alexandre Cazes] ran a global, multimillion-dollar business with revenue of $1 billion, authorities say
explained the journalist of The Press Vincent Larouche in 2017.
A complex personality
Through their investigation, Simon Coutu and Monic Néron hope to shed light on what led this young man from Trois-Rivières to become a major figure in the hidden web in just a few years.
What all the interviews confirm for us is that he was a very complex personality. He’s clearly a computer genius, he’s clearly someone who had a troubled relationship with the fairer sex. Afterwards, I don’t think anyone suspected that he was at the head of AlphaBay, but he was definitely not alone
explains Simon Coutu.
He is quite possibly the biggest trafficker of illegal drugs and credit cards in the history of Quebec, if not Canada. Some will say that [Cazes] only provided the vehicle, the fact remains that it was he who created the site.
The series in four 60-minute shows will be presented on Radio-Canada during the 2022-2023 season.