Ομοσπονδιακοί πράκτορες της Αμερικής κατηγορούνται για κλοπή Bitcoin αξίας 800.000 δολαρίων

Οι ομοσπονδιακοί πράκτορες της Αμερικής Carl M. Force και Shaun W. Bridges που είχαν λάβει μέρος στις έρευνες για την αποκάλυψη του παράνομου drug shop Silk Road κατηγορήθηκαν σήμερα για υποκλοπή Bitcoin αξίας 800.000 δολαρίων και για ξέπλυμα μαύρου χρήματος.

Σύμφωνα με το κατηγορητήριο κατά την διάρκεια των ερευνών τους οι κατηγορούμενοι μετάφεραν μεγάλο αριθμό Bitcoin σε δικά τους ψηφιακά πορτοφόλια για δικό τους όφελος καθώς και χρησιμοποίησαν παράνομες πρακτικές για να δικαιολογήσουν αυτά τα εισοδήματα.

Carl M. Force, 46, of Baltimore, was a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Shaun W. Bridges, 32, of Laurel, Maryland, was a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service (USSS).  Both were assigned to the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, which investigated illegal activity in the Silk Road marketplace.  Force served as an undercover agent and was tasked with establishing communications with a target of the investigation, Ross Ulbricht, aka “Dread Pirate Roberts.”  Force is charged with wire fraud, theft of government property, money laundering and conflict of interest.  Bridges is charged with wire fraud and money laundering.

According to the complaint, Force was a DEA agent assigned to investigate the Silk Road marketplace.  During the investigation, Force engaged in certain authorized undercover  operations by, among other things, communicating online with “Dread Pirate Roberts” (Ulbricht), the target of his investigation.  The complaint alleges, however, that Force then, without authority, developed additional online personas and engaged in a broad range of illegal activities calculated to bring him personal financial gain.  In doing so, the complaint alleges, Force used fake online personas, and engaged in complex Bitcoin transactions to steal from the government and the targets of the investigation.  Specifically, Force allegedly solicited and received digital currency as part of the investigation, but failed to report his receipt of the funds, and instead transferred the currency to his personal account.  In one such transaction, Force allegedly sold information about the government’s investigation to the target of the investigation.  The complaint also alleges that Force invested in and worked for a digital currency exchange company while still working for the DEA, and that he directed the company to freeze a customer’s account with no legal basis to do so, then transferred the customer’s funds to his personal account.  Further, Force allegedly sent an unauthorized Justice Department subpoena to an online payment service directing that it unfreeze his personal account.

Και οι δύο κατηγορούμενοι συνελήφθησαν.

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Συζήτηση για το γεγονός έχει ανοίξει στο Bitcointalk ενώ μπορείτε και να διαβάσετε και το ρεπορτάζ της New York Times και του CNN