A Gwinnett County doctor has pleaded guilty to using the dark web to seek out a murder-for-hire contract on his girlfriend in 2022, federal officials said.
James Wan, 54, of Duluth, confessed that he’d placed an order to have his girlfriend killed on an anonymous online marketplace when questioned by FBI agents, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan said.
Wan, an internist who works at the North Atlanta Vascular Clinic and Vein Center and at Northside Hospital Gwinnett, pleaded guilty to one count of using a facility of interstate commerce in the commission of a murder-for-hire, Buchanan said. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18.
“Wan’s cold-hearted, murderous plot was averted due to the exceptional work of our team,” FBI Agent Keri Farley said in a statement.
According to Buchanan, Wan’s “deadly plan” involved framing his girlfriend’s death as a carjacking. He used his cellphone to access the marketplace on April 18, 2022, and provided his girlfriend’s name, address, Facebook account, license plate number and car description.
After sharing the information, Wan said, “Can take wallet phone and car. Shoot and go. Or take car,” according to the federal prosecutor.
Once the FBI discovered Wan’s plan, and before any attempt could be made on his girlfriend’s life, agents notified her and she was placed under federal protection, Buchanan said.
Wan’s first attempt to secure the murder-for-hire contact did not go as planned. He transferred a 50% down payment, about $8,000 worth of Bitcoin, to another wallet address to be held in escrow. After contacting the marketplace’s administrator, he learned that he had transferred the amount to a wallet that wasn’t theirs.
“Damn. I guess I lost $8k,” Wan replied. “I’m sending $8k to escrow now.”
The second transfer worked, and the administrator asked if Wan wanted the killing to appear accidental or as a “normal shooting,” Buchanan said. Wan responded, “Accident is better.”
Wan made two more transfers to his escrow account to ensure there was enough Bitcoin available to pay for his order, Buchanan said. Those transfers were worth about $8,000 and $1,200, with the final transfer made on May 10, 2022.
In the meantime, Wan posted on a forum connected to the marketplace asking how long it would take for his order to be carried out, according to the U.S. Attorney.
When FBI agents brought him in for questioning, Wan confessed the details of his plan, Buchanan said. His confession was corroborated by his cellphone records and Bitcoin wallet transactions. After Wan was questioned, he canceled his order on the dark web marketplace. He had transferred more than $25,000 worth of Bitcoin to multiple dark web accounts.
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