WHEN FEDS GO ROGUE

Everyone was flocking to Bitcoin in 2013 and often for different reasons, ranging from the benign to the nefarious. Silk Road was at its height as the darknet marketplace transformed the global drugs trade in the same way that Bitcoin was transforming digital finance. Through 2013, the two forces led a symbiotic relationship, with Silk Road’s rapid growth stimulating demand for Bitcoin.

There were many ways to make money from Silk Road, ranging from speculating on the price of BTC that supported its economy to selling drugs to the buyers that now flocked to it. But there was also a more brutal way of exploiting this digital gold rush: by preying on the drug dealers who operated on Silk Road.

In 2013, U.S. law enforcement ramped up its investigation into Silk Road, which had begun in 2011, with the goal of identifying its operator and shutting it down. But two of the agents tasked with the case got tempted by the lure of “untraceable” digital cash and went rogue. The pseudonymity of Bitcoin created an environment of impunity that seduced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Carl Mark Force IV and U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Special Agent Shaun W. Bridges. Instead of following orders, the pair embarked on their own side quests in the pursuit of personal enrichment.

As a 15-year veteran of the DEA, Carl Mark Force IV should have known better. So should six-year veteran of the Secret Service Shaun W. Bridges, who was assigned to the Baltimore Field Office's Electronic Crimes Task Force. But Bitcoin and the darknet were uncharted territory, and in this lawless frontier, the pair quickly realised that they could operate with impunity.

A Secret Service Shakedown

Carl Force's corruption was a complex web of deception, extortion, and abuse of power. He effectively operated as a double agent, leveraging his official position to run a series of personal enrichment schemes in parallel with his law enforcement duties. Force received substantial BTC payments from Silk Road operator “DPR,” including $80,000 for the staged murder of a Silk Road employee. Force stole them, falsified official reports to conceal the theft, and laundered the proceeds into his personal accounts. He also sold DPR what he claimed was inside information about the government's investigation for approximately $100,000 in BTC.

While Force's crimes were characterised by manipulation and deception, Shaun Bridges' corruption was a more direct form of digital larceny. His malfeasance began in January 2013 during the interrogation of arrested Silk Road administrator Curtis Green. After obtaining Green’s admin details, Bridges reset the passwords of numerous vendor accounts on Silk Road, draining them of Bitcoin holdings totalling around 20,000 BTC.

Both Carl Force and Shaun Bridges were eventually caught and imprisoned for their actions, which not only disgraced the agencies they represented but jeopardised the ongoing investigation into Silk Road. Bridges’ criminality didn’t even end with his arrest. While he was out on bail and awaiting sentencing for his first crime, he stole 1,606 BTC (then worth about $359,000) from a government seizure wallet and laundered the funds through Btc-e.

The saga of Carl Force and Shaun Bridges forms a cautionary tale of how the allure of digital wealth and perceived anonymity can corrupt even those entrusted with upholding the law. Their crimes were arguably much worse than those being orchestrated by any of the vendors plying their wares on Silk Road and even DPR himself. The downfall of the two agents brought a certain schadenfreude to the Bitcoin community and provided a reminder, lest it were needed, that absolute power corrupts absolutely.