Image Credit: Associated Press

Two former federal agents have been charged with stealing Bitcoin for their own personal gain while working undercover to help unmask Ross Ulbricht, the convicted mastermind behind the drug trafficking website.

The two agents were both members of the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, which helped conduct the investigation that led to the seizure of the Silk Road servers and Ross Ulbrichts arrest in October 2013. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Carl Mark Force IV, 46, was charged with wire fraud, theft of government property and money laundering. Maryland Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges, 32, wascharged with wire fraud and money laundering.

The lengthy account of how Force and Bridges allegedly abused their roles as federal agents during the Silk Road investigation was never mentioned in Ulbrichts trial, which began in January in New York City. After a month-long trial, Ulbricht was found guilty of creating and running the Silk Road after less than four hours of jury deliberation. He faces sentencing in May, unless an appeal for a new trial filed earlier this month is granted. After the criminal complaint against Force and Bridges was unsealed on Monday, Ulbrichts lawyer Joshua Dratel tweeted:

The Department of Justices 50-page complaint unsealed Monday details a wide range of alleged corrupt actsfrom Force and Bridges during the Silk Road investigationfrom creating unauthorized undercover personas, to extorting Bitcoins from Ulbricht in exchange for information, and forging a subpoena for Venmo.

Force and Bridges abused their positions as federal agents and engaged in a scheme to defraud a variety of third-parties, the public, and the government, all for their own financial enrichment, the complaint reads.

Forces charges are tied to his actions while undercover on the Silk Road towards the end of his 15-year career as a special agent. As part of the Silk Road investigation, Force went undercover as Nob, an imaginary drug smuggler in the United States with global criminal connections, in order to communicate with the Dread Pirate Roberts (Ulbrichts monikeron the Silk Road). Force interacted with DPR asinstructed, but allegedly took his communications with DPR much further than he reported back to the DEA, according to the criminal complaint. After the Silk Road servers were seized in October 2013, the feds discovered that Nob had had many encrypted conversations with DPR that were never officially recorded.

One of Nobs cover stories on the Silk Road was, ironically, that he had access to Kevin, a corrupt government employee who worked for the Department of Justice but gave Nob information about the Silk Road investigation. Most of Nobs conversations with DPR about Kevin were encrypted, except one revealing message. In August 2013, DPR allegedly wrote Nob, I could not decrypt your second message, got an error. I could decrypt the first, and have sent the 525 btc as requested. Nob responded, telling DPR to use PGP and the two continued to chat. In his DEA file about Kevin and the conversation with DPR, Force included an agents note that said: DPR made no such payment. According to the complaint, however, DPR allegedly paid Force twice in Bitcoin400 Bitcoins for fraudulent identification documents in June 2013, and 525 Bitcoins for Kevins inside information in August 2013.

Forces alleged communication with DPR didnt end with Nob, and Force allegedly used two other unauthorized personas French Maid and Death From Above. Ulbricht allegedly paid French Maid approximately $100,000 in bitcoins in exchange for a name that French Maid claimedMark Karpeles had given to law enforcement. Karpeles was then CEO of Mt. Gox digital currency exchange, and the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force was trying to interview him about the Silk Road. (In Ulbrichts trial, a special agent revealed on the stand that the FBI considered Karpeles as a possible suspect before pursuing Ulbricht as the Silk Road mastermind). The complaint lists several reasons that French Maid and Nob were believed to be the same person (aka Force): the investigation into Karpeles was privileged information, both Nob and French Maid used the same outdated PGP software, and the 770 bitcoins paid to French Maid ended up in Forces personal account. Force used his third persona, Death From Above, to allegedly attempt to solicit $250,000 from DPR in exchange for personal identifying details about one of the Homeland Securitys possible Silk Road suspects. The complaint details other alleged misconduct by Force, including subpoenaing Venmo to unfreeze his personal account.

In addition to his work undercover work, Force worked extensively with former Secret Service agent Bridges, who was also on the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force. The complaint details how Force worked with Bridges to allegedly steal Bitcoins from the Silk Road, transfer them to an account with Mt. Gox, and then remove the money just before Bridges served a seizure warrant on the Bitcoin exchange. Because Bridges was the Baltimore Silk Road Task Forces Bitcoin and Tor expert, he was the affiant on many seizure warrants related to digital currency, including the $2.1 million seizure of Mt. Gox.

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Two Former Federal Agents Charged With Stealing Bitcoin During Silk Road Investigation