Wednesday, 1 April 2015, NEW YORK, NY - The United States government Monday in San Francisco federal court criminally charged DEA Special Agent Carl Mark Force IV and Secret Service Agent Shaun W. Bridges with unlawfully enriching themselves while conducting an undercover investigation of the founder Ross W. Ulbricht allegedly aka "Dread Pirate Roberts" of the popular notorious virtually untraceable Silk Road dark web black-market website infamous for its equally virtually untraceable sales by a thousand drug dealers of hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs to 100,000 buyers and other contraband also with equally virtually untraceable Bitcoin currency sales transactions often delivering such items by mail right to people's doors according to a former FBI agent interviewed on CNN's "Inside Man" who related that shortly after the site was shut down in 2013 it simply re-emerged shortly thereafter as Silk Road II. DEA Special Agent Force resigned in 2014 and Secret Service Agent Bridges in March 2015 both upon learning they were under investigation by the U.S. government for corruption.
Following a Manhattan-based investigation site founder Mr. Ulbricht was charged and despite maintaining his innocence in ongoing operations of Silk Road except being pulled back in as a "fall guy" was convicted last month on "numerous" counts according to the New York Times article linked to below with upcoming sentencing at which he faces life in prison. While Mr. Ulbricht's attorney contends that the charges brought by the U.S. government against its own recently resigned agents undermine the government's case brought against Mr. Ulbricht the U.S. government contends that the criminally charged DEA and Secret Service Agents worked out of a Baltimore-based task force while the Manhattan-based investigation proceeded on an "separate and independent" track.
Although Mr. Ulbricht's attorney complained that the U.S. government had not revealed the extent of its DEA and Secret Service Agents' alleged corruption during the investigation the Court ruled that evidence of it could be kept out of Mr. Ulbricht's trial on charges still pending from the allegedly "separate and independent" track of the Baltimore task force investigation as the Court ruled the charges related only to U.S. government agents' corruption.
The criminal complaint unsealed in San Francisco federal court Monday alleged that U.S. DEA Agent Force in the course of the investigation "stole and converted to his personal use a sizable amount of Bitcoins," the currency used in the undercover investigation, totaling at least $778,000. "Rather than turning the Bitcoin over to the government, Force deposited them into his own personal accounts." DEA Agent Force also in addition to allegedly attempting to extort $250,000 from Dread Pirate Roberts upon telling him he was a U.S. government agent did in fact allegedly receive a $50,000 payment from Dread Pirate Roberts for providing him with allegedly "inside" law enforcement information. Meanwhile the federal government charged in its unsealed San Francisco complaint that its Secret Service Agent Bridges a computer forensics expert diverted more than $800,000 to his own personal account in the course of the undercover investigation.
Readers interested in more information can refer to the link to the New York Times article below which itself contains details of and a link to more information of the concluded case against Mr. Ulbricht as well as a link to a copy of the U.S. government complaint unsealed Monday in San Francisco federal court against its former DEA Agent Force and Special Service Agent Bridges who maintain their innocence.
[UPDATED] In the newly added second link below readers may find further details from the complaint unsealed in San Francisco including some of the scenes playing out behind the scenes regarding the undercover investigation including its impacts on the case brought in New York federal court against Mr. Ulbricht resulting in his conviction on several counts for which as mentioned above he may face life in prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/nyregion/silk-road-case-federal-agents-charges.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/nyregion/agent-was-secretly-investigated-during-silk-road-trial.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Technology®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article
Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
Following a Manhattan-based investigation site founder Mr. Ulbricht was charged and despite maintaining his innocence in ongoing operations of Silk Road except being pulled back in as a "fall guy" was convicted last month on "numerous" counts according to the New York Times article linked to below with upcoming sentencing at which he faces life in prison. While Mr. Ulbricht's attorney contends that the charges brought by the U.S. government against its own recently resigned agents undermine the government's case brought against Mr. Ulbricht the U.S. government contends that the criminally charged DEA and Secret Service Agents worked out of a Baltimore-based task force while the Manhattan-based investigation proceeded on an "separate and independent" track.
Although Mr. Ulbricht's attorney complained that the U.S. government had not revealed the extent of its DEA and Secret Service Agents' alleged corruption during the investigation the Court ruled that evidence of it could be kept out of Mr. Ulbricht's trial on charges still pending from the allegedly "separate and independent" track of the Baltimore task force investigation as the Court ruled the charges related only to U.S. government agents' corruption.
The criminal complaint unsealed in San Francisco federal court Monday alleged that U.S. DEA Agent Force in the course of the investigation "stole and converted to his personal use a sizable amount of Bitcoins," the currency used in the undercover investigation, totaling at least $778,000. "Rather than turning the Bitcoin over to the government, Force deposited them into his own personal accounts." DEA Agent Force also in addition to allegedly attempting to extort $250,000 from Dread Pirate Roberts upon telling him he was a U.S. government agent did in fact allegedly receive a $50,000 payment from Dread Pirate Roberts for providing him with allegedly "inside" law enforcement information. Meanwhile the federal government charged in its unsealed San Francisco complaint that its Secret Service Agent Bridges a computer forensics expert diverted more than $800,000 to his own personal account in the course of the undercover investigation.
Readers interested in more information can refer to the link to the New York Times article below which itself contains details of and a link to more information of the concluded case against Mr. Ulbricht as well as a link to a copy of the U.S. government complaint unsealed Monday in San Francisco federal court against its former DEA Agent Force and Special Service Agent Bridges who maintain their innocence.
[UPDATED] In the newly added second link below readers may find further details from the complaint unsealed in San Francisco including some of the scenes playing out behind the scenes regarding the undercover investigation including its impacts on the case brought in New York federal court against Mr. Ulbricht resulting in his conviction on several counts for which as mentioned above he may face life in prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/nyregion/silk-road-case-federal-agents-charges.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/nyregion/agent-was-secretly-investigated-during-silk-road-trial.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Technology®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article
Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
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