A former U.S. Secret Service agent pleaded guilty
on Monday to money laundering and obstruction of
justice. Above, bitcoin tokens.
(Rick Bowmer / Associated Press)
A former U.S. Secret Service agent who was part of
a team investigating illegal activity on the online
drug market Silk Road has pleaded guilty to money
laundering and obstruction of justice, prosecutors
announced Monday.
Shaun W. Bridges, 32, of Laurel, Md., pleaded
guilty Monday in federal court in San Francisco. He
used his position as a special agent with the Secret
Service to steal more than $820,000 worth of bitcoin
digital currency from Silk Road accounts in 2013,
prosecutors said.
“There is a bright line between enforcing the law
and breaking it,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Leslie
Caldwell said in a statement. “Law enforcement
officers who cross that line not only harm their
immediate victims but also betray the public trust.”
Bridges was one of two former federal law
enforcement agents accused of trying to use their
roles in the Silk Road investigation for personal
gain. Former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Carl
M. Force pleaded guilty two months ago
to charges that he stole more than $200,000 worth of
digital currency and tried to sell law enforcement
secrets.
Federal prosecutors have said that Silk Road,
which first surfaced in 2010, was a hidden online
marketplace that served as a host for millions of
dollars worth of drug deals, giving dealers access
to customers they would not have been able to reach
on the street.
Ross William Ulbricht, who went by the online
handle "Dread Pirate Roberts," was sentenced in May
to life in prison after he was convicted of running
the site and allowing more than $180 million worth
of drug deals to take place there.
Bridges admitted he reset passwords and PINs of
various Silk Road accounts, according to the plea
agreement filed Monday. Prosecutors said that
enabled him to fraudulently move and steal
nearly 20,000 bitcoin.
When Bridges took the approximately 20,000
bitcoin in January 2013, the sum would have been
worth about $350,000, prosecutors said. They said he
moved the digital currency into an account at Mt.
Gox, an online digital currency exchange based in
Japan.
In March to May 2013, he liquidated the bitcoin
into $820,000 and transferred the money to a
personal investment account in the U.S., prosecutors
said.
“We depend on those in federal law enforcement
having the highest integrity and unshakeable honor,
and Mr. Bridges has demonstrated that he utterly
lacks those qualities," U.S. Atty. Melinda Haag
said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors said Bridges also admitted
that he made false and misleading statements to
prosecutors and investigators in connection with a
San Francisco grand jury investigation and that he
tried to get other government employees to tell
false stories to prosecutors and investigators.
Bridges is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 7, and
each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and
$250,000, prosecutors said.
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Times staff writer James Queally contributed
to this report.
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2015, Los Angeles
Times
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