The FBI has admitted to taking over Tor servers as part of a takedown aimed at Eric Eoin Marques, 28. The Department of Justice is now seeking the extradition of Marques, who holds dual U.S.-Irish citizenship, on child pornography charges.
During a Thursday bail hearing held in Dublin, supervisory special agent Brooke Donahue told the Irish court that Freedom Hosting hosted more than 100 child porn Tor sites which sported “thousands of members” who had collectively posted “millions of images” involving the abuse of children, reported Ireland’s Independent.
Donahue described Marques as being “the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet” and the sole administrator behind the Freedom Hosting service. Donahue also told the court that the bureau found that Marques had visited some of the Freedom Hosting sites that were distributing child pornography, and that before his arrest, Marques appeared to be researching ways of relocating both himself and his servers to Russia, in an apparent attempt to avoid extradition. Marques ultimately was denied bail.