Recently the two ex-federal agents Carl Force and Shaun Bridges were in news after agreeing to plead guilty to charges of theft, money laundering and extortion. These two former federal agents from the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S Secret Service respectively.
As a part of the Baltimore Task Force tasked to investigate Silk Road, the prominent online drug marketplace on the deep web, both Force and Bridges put together stole bitcoins worth over a million dollars from the website. Allegedly Force also extorted money from Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road better known by his online alias Dread Pirate Roberts in exchange for information about the ongoing investigation on him and his website.
While Shaun stole about 3565 bitcoins worth $800,000 from Silk Road after obtaining passwords for the site from one of the customer support executives, Force managed to steal bitcoins worth $450,000 by extorting bitcoins from Ulbricht and also kept the bitcoins in Silk Road’s frozen bitcoin exchange account for himself.
READ MORE: One of the Feds to Plead Guilty for Stealing Bitcoins from Silk Road
Carl Force pleaded guilty to the charges of extortion, money-laundering and obstruction of justice earlier yesterday in front of the San Francisco federal court judge. His guilty plea was accepted by the US District judge Richard Seeborg and his sentencing is scheduled in October. Force is currently facing up to 20 years imprisonment.
Apart from the charges directly related to his stint with the investigation of Ulbricht, he also confessed to have been in talks with 21st Century Fox to assist in the making of a movie on Silk Road Investigation. He was supposed to receive over $240,000 as part of the deal. While still working for the DEA, Force stared working as a chief compliance officer in one of the Bitcoin companies. While being part of the company he was responsible for seizing over $300,000 and directed it to his personal account.
His partner in crime, Shaun Bridges is expected to enter his plea next month.
READ MORE: Fed No. 2 Carl Force to Plead Guilty in the Silk Road Case