UPDATE 1-Suspected adviser to Silk Road creator arrested - U.S. prosecutors

(Adds further details on case)
By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A Canadian man has been arrested
in Thailand for his alleged role as a senior adviser to the
creator of Silk Road, an online black market where illegal drugs
and other goods were sold, U.S. prosecutors announced on Friday.
Roger Thomas Clark, who authorities said went by the online
moniker "Variety Jones," was arrested on Thursday to face
extradition on U.S. charges stemming from his role in helping
Ross Ulbricht, Silk Road's convicted creator.
Prosecutors said Clark, 54, was described by Ulbricht as a
trusted "mentor" who regularly advised him on the management of
Silk Road, a website that allowed users to anonymously buy drugs
using the virtual currency bitcoin.
He faces up to life in prison based on charges of narcotics
conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy contained in a
criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.
A lawyer for Clark could not be identified.
Silk Road operated for more than two years, allowing users
to buy drugs and other illicit goods and generating $213 million
in sales in the process, prosecutors said.
The website, which relied on the Tor network, was seized by
U.S. authorities in 2013 as they arrested Ulbricht, Silk Road's
admitted creator who prosecutors said operated it under the
alias "Dread Pirate Roberts."
Ulbricht, 31, was sentenced in May to life in prison after a
federal jury in Manhattan found him guilty on charges including
distributing narcotics.
According to the complaint, Clark began advising Ulbricht in
2011. In a digital journal, Ulbricht said Variety Jones advised
him on many technical aspects of the website during its initial
year, the complaint said.
"He's been a real mentor," Ulbricht wrote, according to the
complaint.
Clark also suggested Ulbricht adopt the pseudonym Dread
Pirate Roberts, an alias borrowed from a character in the 1987
movie "The Princess Bride," the complaint said.
Prosecutors said Clark also helped Ulbricht develop rules
governing Silk Road's vendors and users and advised him on how
to conceal his involvement with the website and on tactics to
thwart law enforcement investigations.
For his efforts, Clark, who also went by "VJ," "Cimon," and
"Plural of Mongoose," was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars,
prosecutors said.
The case is U.S. v. Clark, U.S. District Court, Southern
District of New York, No. 15-mj-1335.