Federal prosecutors have charged two brothers from Jacksonville, Florida, for allegedly running a darknet drug operation that sold counterfeit pills linked to at least 12 overdoses, including three deaths.
Vladislav Chernyshov, 35, and Stanislav Chernyshov, 30, were arrested on Aug. 28 and charged with conspiracy to distribute nitazenes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the case on Sept. 2.
According to an FBI affidavit, the brothers allegedly operated under the darknet vendor name “BarbaraWhite.” Investigators used blockchain records, postal information, undercover purchases, surveillance and data from darknet marketplaces to identify the alleged operators.
Investigators traced Bitcoin addresses allegedly used by BarbaraWhite to receive money from three darknet markets: Nemesis, Bohemia and Abacus. All three marketplaces have since shut down or disappeared.
The wallets linked to the investigation received about $220,000 from darknet markets and sent around $230,000 in cryptocurrency, according to an analysis by Chainalysis based on the FBI affidavit.
Investigators allegedly connected some of the wallet activity to Stanislav through transactions involving other wallets linked to his mobile payment account. Chainalysis said its blockchain analysis helped investigators reconstruct part of the network of transactions.
The wallets also allegedly sent money to a shipping provider, another drug vendor and a chemical supplier based in China. About $7,210 was reportedly sent to the chemical supplier.
Investigators believe the supplier provided chemicals connected to the nitazenes allegedly used in the counterfeit pills sold by BarbaraWhite.
Prosecutors allege that the group sold fake oxycodone pills containing several types of nitazenes, including protonitazene, metonitazene, N-pyrrolidino etonitazene and N-pyrrolidino isotonitazene.
The pills were made to look like pharmaceutical oxycodone. Some listings reportedly described them as “fent free,” but laboratory testing allegedly found nitazenes in the pills. Some nitazenes can be extremely powerful and may be as potent as or more potent than fentanyl.
The investigation began after a fatal overdose in Arlington, Virginia. Investigators say the victim died on Aug. 28, 2023, several days after receiving a package connected to a BarbaraWhite purchase.
Authorities have linked BarbaraWhite shipments to at least 12 overdoses across the United States, including three deaths. Records from three darknet marketplaces allegedly showed sales of more than 95,000 counterfeit pills.
Prosecutors stressed that these figures are part of the allegations in the case and have not been established at trial.
The brothers are each facing a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute nitazenes. If convicted, prosecutors said they could face at least 20 years in prison.
However, the brothers remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court, and any sentence would ultimately depend on the applicable law, sentencing guidelines and the details of the case.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and several local and regional agencies were involved in the investigation.
The case was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia under case number 1:26-mj-336. The next steps could include hearings, detention proceedings, further charging decisions and the exchange of evidence. No trial date or plea agreement had been publicly announced at the time of the report.
