Federal Agent Admitted $800,000 Bitcoin Theft in Silk Road Case
Finally, Shaun Bridges, a former US secret service agent, has admitted to stealing more than $800,000 worth of cryptocurrency during a Silk Road investigation. A few days ago, the federal agent, 33, showed up in federal court in San Francisco and pleaded guilty to money laundering and obstruction of justice.
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The well-known drug-selling online marketplace operated for more than two years until it was shut down by the FBI 2 years ago. Over the time of its operation, the service has generated more than $214m in sales of illicit goods using digital currency. The website’s operator, Ross Ulbricht, who used the alias Dread Pirate Roberts to run Silk Road, was recently sentenced to life in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of a range of charges, including distributing drugs on the Internet.
However, the Silk Road’s operator was not the only person who profited from selling drugs. Shaun Bridges belonged to a Baltimore-based federal task force investigating the black marketplace. Another member of that unit, former DEA agent Carl Force, has pleaded guilty to extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
An attorney for Ross Ulbricht claimed that those charges removed any question about the corruption that pervaded the investigation of the website. Shaun Bridges officially admitted in court that his theft had made the site operator believe that another individual was stealing from the black marketplace. Moreover, this helped lead Ross Ulbricht to make an attempt to find a killer for the thief. It should be mentioned that Ulbricht was indeed accused of intention to murder, though no murder ever took place.
The former federal agent will be sentenced in December 2015.
