Former Secret Service agent pleads guilty in Silk Road investigation

A former U.S. Secret Service special agent pleaded guilty on Monday to money laundering and obstruction of justice in connection with his theft of bitcoin during the investigation of Silk Road, an online drug marketplace, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release.

Shaun W. Bridges, 32, of Laurel, Maryland, admitted that in January 2013 he used an administrator account on the Silk Road website that belonged to another individual to manipulate various accounts and moving bitcoin from those accounts into a bitcoin "wallet" that he controlled, according to his plea agreement.  He admitted that he moved and stole nearly 20,000 bitcoin, which at that time was worth roughly $350,000. According to his admissions, he liquidated the bitcoin into $820,000 between March and May 2013, and had the funds transferred to personal investment accounts in the United States.

"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," said U.S. Attorney Haag. 

Bridges' plea agreement also established that he obstructed the Baltimore federal grand jury's investigations of Silk Road and Ulbricht in a number of ways, including by impeding the ability of the investigation to fully utilize a cooperator's access to Silk Road, the release said.

"Through a series of complex transactions, the defendant stole bitcoins worth hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Chief Weber.  "This case is an excellent example of the financial expertise of our special agents. Through the analysis of both the block chain and data from the Silk Road servers, we were able to trace the flow of funds, which eventually led to the defendant."

The sentence hearing on the case is scheduled on December 7, 2015.