While Ross Ulbricht was found guilty for creating and running the online black market known as Silk Road, it seems that a couple of Federal agents assigned to the case weren't so innocent either. The US Justice Department has just charged two former Federal agents involved in the investigation for allegedly committing wire fraud and diverting bitcoins into their own personal accounts. Former agents Carl Mark Force IV and Shaun Bridges were part of a Baltimore investigation into Ulbricht -- Force worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bridges worked for the Secret Service -- when they supposedly committed the crimes.
According to a 50-page criminal complaint revealed today, Force created online personas, "engaged in complex Bitcoin transactions to steal from the government and the targets of the investigation" and "stole and converted to his own personal use a sizable amount of bitcoins." Similarly, Bridges allegedly redirected more than $800,000 worth of bitcoins into his own personal investment accounts in the US before seeking a seizure warrant for Mt. Gox, the former bitcoin exchange in Japan. Force has been charged with wire fraud, theft of government property, money laundering and conflict of interest, while Bridges is charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Both men have been arrested and will be in court later today.
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