U.S. Prosecutors Accuse Shaun Bridges of Additional Bitcoin Theft In Silk Road Case

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by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
U.S. Prosecutors Accuse Shaun Bridges of Additional Bitcoin Theft In Silk Road Case

The new evidence has been discovered during the search of Bridges’s house.

The new details come to light in the case against Shaun Bridges’s case. To trace the story from the beginning, let’s refresh some details.

The former Secret Service agent and the corrupt Silk Road investigator in addition pleaded guilty to have stolen $820,000 worth of bitcoins during the investigation of Silk Road market.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said: “Mr. Bridges has now admitted that he brazenly stole $820,000 worth of digital currency while working as a U.S. Secret Service special agent, a move that completely violated the public’s trust. 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.  We appreciate the hard work of our federal partners that went into bringing Mr. Bridges to justice.”

Judge Seeborg of the District Court for the Northern District of California sentenced Bridges to serve 71 months in prison. The Bureau of Prisons ordered that Bridges report no later than noon on January 29, 2016, to begin serving his sentence. Bridges is now serving that sentence.

The US government has now revealed additional thefts of Bridges from the Silk Road marketplace. “The United States had recently become aware of additional thefts of bitcoins from Secret Service accounts, the facts of which led the government to believe that Bridges, working with others, was also involved in these thefts”, the filing says.

The investigators disclose that during the recent search of Bridges’s house they found a passport card, corporate documents for offshore companies, and documents related to his wife’s attempt to get citizenship in another country.

Agents also discovered a MacBook with the serial number scratched off, an ipad tucked between a bedroom mattress, and bulletproof vests, at least one of which had Secret Service markings and thus is believed to have been stolen from the government. Full details of investigation have not been published as it could alert additional targets of the investigation and complicate the whole investigation.

Silk Road marketplace was created in 2011 and according to prosecutors, it had made $1,2 billion until was shut down in 2013. Its founder Ross Ulbricht didn’t admit his guilt in the beginning but anyway was found guilty later.

According to the prosecutors, Ross Ulbricht, Silk Road’s creator, was using the name Dread Pirate Roberts, a reference to a character in the film The Princess Bride. Testifying before the court, former FBI agent Ilhwan Yum traced more than $13 million in direct transactions from the Silk Road to Ulbricht’s wallet, highlighting the fact that Ulbricht had been profiting from the site and  a number of illegal drug transactions. During the trial, the prosecutors presented the testimony of a friend who admitted the fact that he had helped Ulbricht launch the infamous site. Moreover, there were presented either journal entries describing operations or chat logs.

 

 

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