Law Enforcement Agents Allegedly Stole Money Through Bitcoin

This story has recently developed. Two federal law enforcement agents were arrested for allegedly stealing bitcoins during an investigation. Carl Force, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, and Shaun Bridges, a Secret Service agent, were investigating Silk Road, an online black market. The creator of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was convicted of crimes that included drug trafficking a few months back. He helped orchestrate about $200 million worth of online drug sales using bitcoins. Ulbricht faces life in prison.

Now, back to the federal agents. Both are charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Carl Force is also charged with theft of government property and conflict of interest. Force had been authorized to operate undercover using a different identity, during the investigation. However, he was using three different identities, something he was not supposed to do. He was using one of them to investigate, and the other two to chat with Ulbricht and extract money from him. Force allegedly stole funds from a person living in California through bitcoin, which he later converted into dollars that went into his personal bank account.

Bridges was working with Force in the Silk Road investigation. They had allegedly texted back and forth and monitored the price of bitcoins. Bridges is accused of diverting about $800 million in bitcoins to his personal account. Bridges and Force recently resigned from their positions. They will now both appear in federal courts.

I am sure that many people will mark this as a negative for bitcoins. They will talk about how bitcoins facilitate crime, and what-not. However, we all need to realize that it wasn't the Bitcoin company that committed these crimes, it was a set of human beings who did. When humans have the intention of doing wrong, they will find some way of committing their crimes. We should not blame bitcoin for this. I have never used bitcoin, nor do I plan on doing so in the near future. However, I don't think it is a bad idea. I just hope that the system isn't exploited too much.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/30/dea-agent-silk-road-secret-service_n_6970758.html?utm_hp_ref=technology&ir=Technology&utm_hp_ref=technology

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/silk-road-convicted_n_6616128.html