US Federal Special Agents Charged With Money Laundering In Bitcoins In Connection With Silk Road Probe

Former special agents Carl M. Force IV and Shaun W. Bridges, who were part of a Baltimore-based probe team to investigate the illegal activities of online black market Silk Road, had been formally charged on March 30 with money laundering, wire fraud, theft of government property and other relevant offences.

Force and Bridges were accused of siphoning huge amounts of money in Bitcoin into offshore accounts during their investigation. According to the complaint, Force, in the course of his undercover investigation targeting Silk Road operator Ross William Ulbricht, amassed large amount of bitcoins by using different pseudonyms in order to communicate with Dread Pirate Roberts, Ulbricht’s alias. Force was accused of extorting from Ulbricht U$250,000 (A$ 329,360) in exchange for concealing information about the latter from the government. Ulbricht has already been convicted in February this year of money laundering, drug trafficking and other related offences. He is awaiting his sentence on May 15 in New York.

The complaint also stated the pseudonyms were not sanctioned by the investigation. In addition, it said that Force in using his undercover identity, Nob, falsely told Roberts that the former was in possession of sensitive law enforcement information provided by a certain “Kevin,” another agent involved in Silk Road. Force was allegedly paid U$50,000 for such information. In sum, the complaint indicated he deposited around U$776,000, Bitcoins’ value, to his personal bank accounts.

A special agent of Drug Enforcement Administration, Force left his post in May last year. The Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs issued a statement that Force was arrested on March 27. Meanwhile, also according to the complaint, Bridges, 32, was a computer forensics expert once connected with the Secret Service. He allegedly diverted U$800,000 in Bitcoins during the investigation. He established a limited liability firm and funded it solely with wire deposits. He left his post on March 18 after knowing he was the subject of an investigation. Bridges surrendered on March 30 in San Francisco.

The 95-page criminal complaint had been issued on March 25 in Northern District of California and opened on Monday in San Francisco federal court.

Silk Road was a secret website launched in 2011 where drugs and other illicit merchandises were safely traded. It had been shut down in 2013.

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