2 Federal Agents in Silk Road Case Face Fraud Charges

[DarknetMarkets]

From the NY TIMES:

Two former federal agents are expected to be arrested on Monday on charges of stealing money while working undercover on an investigation into Silk Road, the once-thriving black market website for drug dealing, a document shows.

The former agents are Carl Mark Force IV, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Shaun Bridges, who worked for the Secret Service.

Mr. Force is being charged with wire fraud, theft of government property and money laundering; and Mr. Bridges is being charged with wire fraud and money laundering, according to an affidavit filed in the United States District Court in San Francisco.

The charges stem from the agents’ role in one of the federal investigations into Silk Road; a separate Manhattan-based investigation ultimately led to the filing of charges against the website’s founder, Ross W. Ulbricht, who was convicted last month on numerous counts. The website was also shut down by the authorities.
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Mr. Force, while investigating Silk Road, “stole and converted to his own personal use a sizable amount of Bitcoins,” the digital currency that was used by buyers and sellers on the website and which he obtained in his undercover capacity, the government said.


Full story including documents.

Source: NY TIMES (Partial paywall and country restrictions)

[Minerjoe]

Hah, I guess greed s got no boundaries. If Feds can steal, imagine how ordinary scammers and hackers feel about Bitcoin. Some form or regulation is necessary.

[DrApricot]

From the NY TIMES:

Two former federal agents are expected to be arrested on Monday on charges of stealing money while working undercover on an investigation into Silk Road, the once-thriving black market website for drug dealing, a document shows.

The illicit activities of these two government agents only make sense in a much broader context of:

• the missing $27 million in bank deposits,
• the presumably-stolen 27,000 BTC that the Tokyo police were looking for last August,
• the activities of Willy and Markus bots which perhaps unintentionally caused Mt. Gox to operate on a fractional reserve basis,
• the behaviour of Mt. Gox's banks and their European counterparts which may have delayed bank deposits from reaching Mt. Gox and thus caused a cash squeeze in February, 2014.

All of this could have simply been "bad luck" or mere random happenstance, yet perhaps not. These could have been elements in a scheme to take down Mt. Gox, and those who orchestrated it from behind the scenes have now cast out these two agents as fall-guys or patsies to divert attention from anyone ever looking any deeper into the matter.

[rammy2k2]

and how is this a service discussion ? what service we talk here about ?

[Pushtheghost]

Does it really surprise anyone? These guys are working for a wage that isn't that far off minimum wage, no great benefits, and pretty much in general a thankless job. You're always going to get a few people who just can't help themselves and think they can get away with it. Although you would think that they know better, considering they investigate crimes not too dissimilar from the ones they committed themselves.

[BitcoinXio]

Does it really surprise anyone? These guys are working for a wage that isn't that far off minimum wage, no great benefits, and pretty much in general a thankless job.

I hope that you are joking, because they make very good money[1] and have great benefits. Is it thankless, yeah probably, but people that do these jobs don't do it for the thanks.

[1] FORCE received approximately $150,000 in annual salary from the DEA (Pg7)

[DrApricot]

From the NY TIMES:

Two former federal agents are expected to be arrested on Monday on charges of stealing

The illicit activities of these two government agents only make sense in a much broader context

I should have said these two agents are merely accused of illicit activities, and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The situation is really quite complicated, and it's probably best to try and get a more complete picture in mind before making any judgements.