Former U.S. Secret Service agent Shaun W. Bridges, 32, has pleaded guilty to stealing $820,000 worth of bitcoins while helping to run the U.S. government’s investigation into the notorious underground narcotics marketplace known as “Silk Road” (see Feds Arrest ‘Silk Road’ Investigators). Bridges pleaded guilty Aug. 31 in California federal court to both money laundering and obstruction of justice, according to the Department of Justice. The former special agent with the Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force is due to be sentenced Dec. 7, 2015. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge, although under the terms of his plea deal, prosecutors have included sentencing recommendations for the judge. Those recommendations have not been publicly disclosed.
Bridges’ plea follows a guilty plea in July by the man who was charged with being his partner in crime – Carl M. Force IV, formerly a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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