Shaun Bridges, the United States Secret Service agent who had recently confessed about his involvement in stealing bitcoin from Silk Road wallets was sentenced to prison on Monday. While being part of the Baltimore Task Force, a multi-agency force tasked to investigate the deep web market place he had stolen thousands of bitcoins.
He and another Ex-DEA agent Carl Force had confessed to illegally gaining bitcoins from Silk Road and Ross Ulbricht in two separate cases recently. Shaun Bridges was charged with money laundering and obstruction of justice by the US Federal Court of San Francisco. He was sentenced to 71 months imprisonment along with a penalty of $475,000 in property and funds held in personal and trust accounts. Bridges will also have to pay an additional $500,000 for restitution.
While awarding the sentence, US District Judge Richard Seeborg mentioned that he views Shaun Bridges’ offense as an extremely seriously crime involving betrayal of public trust by a public servant motivated by greed. Richard B. Evans, a Department of Justice attorney pointed out that Shaun Bridges was responsible for stealing bitcoin from the target of investigation and blamed it on those witnesses who were cooperating with the authorities. The same judge, Richard Seeborg also presided over Carl Force’s trial and awarded him 78 months prison sentence earlier.
The Silk Road fiasco has not ended with these arrests yet. Recently law enforcement authorities in Thailand have arrested a person who was allegedly the top advisor of Silk Road and Ross Ulbricht. The authorities are currently working on extraditing him to the United States.
In addition to stealing bitcoin from Silk Road wallets, Shaun Bridges is also held responsible for botching Mt Gox investigation in order to protect his assets lodged in the platform. It is not sure how many more skeletons will tumble out of the Silk Road closet in coming days.
Judge sets 71-month sentence for former Secret Service agent who plundered Silk Road