Secret service agent charged with stealing Bitcoins from the Silk Road is sentenced to two more years in prison

Secret Service Agent Who Stole Silk Road Bitcoins Sentenced to Two More Years for Stealing Even More

AP

Shaun Bridges, the 35-year-old Secret Service agent from Baltimore who was sentenced to 71 months in prison in 2016 for stealing over $800,000 in Bitcoin during a government investigation into notorious deep-web market Silk Road, has been sentenced to an additional two years in jail for money-laundering charges, Reuters reported.

Per Ars Technica, the second set of charges pertained to charges that after Bridges had left the Secret Service and "after he had already signed his first guilty plea," he illegally transferred an additional 1,600-plus bitcoins that "had previously been seized by federal authorities from Bitstamp, a European Bitcoin exchange, which later challenged the seizure." As Reuters noted, prosecutors said that after signing his plea deal in the matter of the cryptocurrency stolen from Silk Road, Bridges had used a period of time in which he was not in custody to attempt to transfer the other stolen bitcoins in secrecy.

In August 2017, Bridges pleaded guiltyto the second heist amid overwhelming proof he was responsible, including video evidence of him allegedly leaving work with a bag full of hard drives.

"He walked out with, among other things, a private key in order to be able to access a digital wallet containing approximately 1,606 bitcoin," Assistant United States Attorney William Frentzen said at a hearing, per Ars Technica. "That digital wallet was the product of a forfeiture seizure action where Mr. Bridges was the affiant and the proceeds were taken from an exchange called Bitstamp. And they contained, among other things, bitcoin that had illegally been obtained by his prior codefendant, Carl Force, a former DEA agent."

At the time of the theft, Reuters added, the second set of bitcoins was worth around $395,005 but is now worth well over $11 million dollars today--though it's hard to imagine that Bridges would have ever been able to transfer that entire amount back into government-issued currency, given the intense amount of scrutiny his case attracted.

Silk Road, a massive black market website where users could buy all manner of drugs and other illicit goods and services, was seized by the government in 2013, long after it had been infiltrated by authorities. The kingpin behind the site, California man Ross Ulbricht, was later sentenced to life in prison--a hefty sentence probably not helped along by revelations he had attempted to order at least five assassinations. Authorities later auctioned off many of the bitcoins seized in the investigation.

EDIT: I'm not going to post a summary I don't think the article is that long, I thought it was an interesting read. They really bungled this case; even though they had enough evidence to nail Ross to the wall, it's sad to think DPR will never see the light of day.


Comments


[61 Points] ForLol_Serious:

Lol he thought he could hide more of the monies from the feds think again asshole.


[33 Points] missalfa:

fuck that fed


[19 Points] None:

[deleted]


[10 Points] CantlogintoNuc:

I am out of the loop with this, why do people think Jebs daughter ran Hansa


[5 Points] epicjam:

So did he actually return all the BTC he stole?


[3 Points] justinherass99:

fuck him for being a fed and what he did to the silk road. but who wouldn't steal $400k, if given the opportunity?

also, fuck the feds for auctioning off $11m of bitcoin. they prob used it to give themselves nice fat bonuses. that should go to charity. don't think the guys who ratted him out and prosecuted him are any less corrupt assholes.


[2 Points] None:

If you can't beat em' join em'.


[2 Points] Yanlii:

Did he get to keep the crypto at least?


[1 Points] PM_ME_YOUR_XMR:

SHUM


[1 Points] nateklly:

Fucker got what he deserved that's for sure


[1 Points] bloodwire:

I don't understand why he did not just create a new bitcoin wallet, wrote down the account retrival mnemonic, transfered the bitcoin, then deleted everything except his backup mnemonic.


[1 Points] Getitintoday:

They should have played him down with at least a 10 piece.


[1 Points] mathiar:

Article for those that want to see coverage from another source: https://gizmodo.com/secret-service-agent-who-stole-silk-road-bitcoins-sente-1820241618


[1 Points] StuxianNightmare:

Agreed fuck Bridges

Some mentioned it would have been difficult to launder that much

Not at all... if he converts it to monero, then trades monero for fiat

He should approach AK’s guide to tumbling btc to monero

From there find a wage slave to trade xmr to fiat who does smallish trades over time and recycles accounts often


[1 Points] co1nstar:

He should have gotten more time considering what happened to Ross, but we all know LE gets off a whole lot easier.