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Rogue federal agent to serve 6.5 years for Silk Road scandal
Former federal agent Carl Force has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for his role in obstructing justice while investigating the online black market, Silk Road. As Reuters tells it, prosecutors were aiming for a longer sentence (87 months, or 7.25 years) but the defense was aiming for a brisk four-year sentence due to a history of mental health issues. To back up that claim, Force said he didn't understand a lot of what he was doing. Even the movie deal? Ars Technica reports that Force will have to pay $337,000 in restitution to a CoinMKT customer and $3,000 to an arrested Silk Road employee by the name of Curtis Green. If you'll remember, the last federal agent involved with the corruption charges, Shaun Bridges, is awaiting trial, while Silk Road's mastermind Ross "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht was given a life sentence for his crimes. [Image credit: Tim Arbaev for Getty]
Another Silk Road spy pleaded guilty to laundering bitcoins
$820,000. That's how much former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges pilfered in bitcoin during his time investigating the online black market, Silk Road. Bridges pleaded guilty to money laundering and obstruction of justice recently and the Department of Justice says that it was analyzing the "block chain and data" from Silk Road's servers that lead the breadcrumb trail of ill-gotten gains back to him. Bridges funneled his 20,000 bitcoins, at that time worth $350,000, through a series of "complex transactions" with a stop at Mt. Gox before transferring them into US dollars in early 2013. It isn't nearly as flagrant as his colleague Carl Force's transgressions (a movie deal? Seriously?), but the amount of money Bridges tried stealing was an awful lot higher.
Silk Road investigator pleads guilty to stealing bitcoins
Disgraced DEA agent Carl Force has pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The official committed the crimes while himself investigating the online black market Silk Road, as well as the activities of its founder, Russ "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht. In a statement from the Department of Justice, Force used "Nob," a DEA-sanctioned online persona to conduct some after hours business with Ulbricht, amongst other things.
