Corrupt Silk Road operatives suspected of stealing another $700,000 worth of Bitcoin

Abstract: Two former DEA agents who assisted in the investigation of the Silk Road case, Carl Force and former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges , were indicted last year for embezzling bitcoins from the dark web market during the investigation. The latest public court documents show that Bridges is suspected of stealing $ 700,000 worth of bitcoins in another case . In November 2014 , Maryland prosecutors seized 1,606 bitcoins from the Bitcoin company Bitstamp , which were worth $ 600,000 at the time . Bridges participated in the investigation and the seized bitcoins were transferred to the wallet he created. Some Bitstamp customers questioned the legality of the search warrant. In September 2015 , a federal judge in Maryland ordered the Secret Service to return some of the seized bitcoins. But after the Secret Service visited the wallet, they found that all the bitcoins were missing.

The Secret Service never revoked Bridges ’ access to the wallet, even after he was arrested. The stolen bitcoins were transferred to an account at BTC - e , which provided partial logs at the request of the government, showing the use of Tor and a Bitcoin tumbler . When Bridges was a federal agent, he frequently used Tor and was an expert Bitcoin tumbler .