{"id":28107,"date":"2015-03-31T13:57:29","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T20:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=28107"},"modified":"2023-01-12T11:40:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T17:40:20","slug":"agents-investigating-silk-road-charged-with-money-laundering-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/agents-investigating-silk-road-charged-with-money-laundering-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Agents Investigating Silk Road Charged with Money Laundering, Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"
Force and Bridges were investigating Silk Road, a website operated by Ross Ulbricht. (Image: CoinDesk)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Silk Road was a site on the dark web that allowed people to make numerous transactions ranging from the unusual to the shady to the downright illegal.<\/p>\n

These purchases and sales were largely made with Bitcoins and other digital currencies to help prevent them from being traced by law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the site was shut down thanks in part to the efforts of undercover federal agents who investigated the site.<\/p>\n

But it turns out that those agents weren\u2019t just looking into what was going on at Silk Road, but actively profiting from their time there as well.<\/p>\n

Two agents, including Carl Mark Force IV of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Shaun Bridges of the Secret Service were charged with money laundering and wire fraud on Monday in connection with their actions during those investigations.<\/p>\n

The agents had already resigned after growing pressure and inquiry into how they conducted themselves during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Agents Moved Bitcoins Into Personal Accounts<\/b><\/h2>\n

Force was also charged with theft of government property and conflict of interest. The criminal complaint against the two men, which was unsealed Monday in federal court, explained that Force \u201cstole and converted to his own personal use a sizable amount of Bitcoins\u201d that he had obtained while doing his undercover work.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than turning those Bitcoin over to the government, Force deposited them into his own personal accounts,\u201d the complaint alleges.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bridges is charged with similar actions. According to the complaint, he is a computer forensics expert, and moved over $800,000 in Bitcoins<\/a> and other digital currencies into a personal account after obtaining it during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Ulbricht Case Didn\u2019t Include Information About Agents\u2019 Misdeeds\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

These accusations have been a sticking point in the trial of Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road website. While Force and Bridges were part of a Baltimore investigation into the site, Ulbricht was convicted after a separate Manhattan-based investigation led to charges that went to trial.<\/p>\n

According to lawyer Joshua Dratel, who represents Ulbricht, the government made aggressive efforts to remove \u201cany reference to Agent Force\u2019s activities\u201d during the trial, including having a request to do so granted by the presiding judge. In addition, Dratel says that \u201conly a portion of what is revealed in [the complaint against Force and Bridges]\u201d was disclosed before Ulbricht\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear from this complaint that fundamentally, the government\u2019s investigation of Mr. Ulbricht lacked any integrity and was wholly and fatally compromised from the inside,\u201d Dratel said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether there really is any chance that the charges against Force or Bridges could help Ulbricht\u2019s case. According to the attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan, their investigation was completely independent of the one in Baltimore, and that no evidence from the Baltimore inquiry was used in their case.<\/p>\n

They also say that the charges against Force and Bridges are only about corruption on the parts of the agents, not about anything that could impact Ulbricht\u2019s guilt or innocence.<\/p>\n

Both agents committed crimes that involved abusing their positions while interacting with Bitcoin. For instance, Force is alleged to have sent an unauthorized subpoena from the Justice Department to an online payment processor compelling the company to unfreeze his account.<\/p>\n

Bridges was said to have put money into the now-defunct Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange days before warrants were filed against the site, while Force invested over $100,000 in Bitcoin into CoinMKT, another Bitcoin exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Silk Road was a site on the dark web that allowed people to make numerous transactions ranging from the unusual to the shady to the downright illegal. These purchases and sales were largely made with Bitcoins and other digital currencies to help prevent them from being traced by law enforcement. 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