Ross Ulbricht, the individual accused of creating the infamous Silk Road, portal has just lost his bid to dismiss a federal indictment that accused him of conspiring to deal illegal drugs and launder money.

The site creator, known online as “Dread Pirate Roberts”, argues that he didn’t conspire with the portal users who might have done illegal things by completing deals on Silk Road, using Bitcoins. Ulbricht also argued that he wasn’t involved in money laundering because… Bitcoins are not money! No indictment about bitcoinlaundering was issued, as you understand.

The court decided that both the design and operation of the website and Ulbricht’s role as an intermediary between the users did justify letting prosecutors pursue their case. Ross Ulbricht was considered acting as a kind of “godfather”, determining the territory, the actions to undertake, the commissions he will retain, and disciplining other users to stay in line. In addition, it was claimed that he was generally casting himself as a leader. It doesn’t matter whether the government can prove all those allegations at this stage. The court also pointed out that the money laundering allegation is still in place because Bitcoin’s value can be expressed in dollars.

Ross Ulbricht, now 29, still faces 4 conspiracy counts: money laundering, drugs trafficking, computer hacking, and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. The latter carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The trial is scheduled for November. Ross Ulbricht has been in federal custody since his arrest on 1 October at a public library in San Francisco. His online portal was shut down shortly before the arrest.

Ulbricht sought to dismiss the federal indictment, saying that the government portrayed him as being just a “facilitator” of alleged illegal conduct rather than a co-conspirator. However, the court clarified that Silk Road was believed to be specifically and intentionally designed to create an online drugs black market.

Silk Road members accessed the website via an encryption program allowing anonymous communications. A couple weeks ago, the US Marshals Service auctioned about 30,000 Bitcoins, then valued at $17.7 million, seized from the service and his owner. The cryptocurrency is known for being transacted independent of central control, and not backed by any government or central bank.