Silk Road: undercover DEA agent turned bitcoin thief pleads guilty

A former undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration has pleaded guilty on charges of stealing more than $700,000 in digital currency – most of it from an online drug bazaar known as Silk Road that he infiltrated as part of a federal investigation.

Carl M Force, dressed in the orange garb of the San Francisco jail and shackled at the ankles, pleaded guilty to extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice in federal court.

The former DEA agent could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when sentenced in October.

“He had a stellar 15-year career with the DEA except for this one blip,” Force’s attorney, Ivan Bates, said outside court.

Inside court Bates told US District Judge Richard Seeborg that Force suffered from anxiety and depression.

While with the DEA Force, 46, was tasked with masquerading as a big-time drug dealer who had connections to hit men, infiltrating Silk Road and communicating with the online drug bazaar’s founder, Ross Ulbricht.

Ulbricht was recently sentenced to life in prison for his role in managing the Silk Road website, which rang up more than $200m in sales.

Serving in his undercover role as “Nob”, Force told Ulbricht he had inside information about the federal investigation of Silk Road and began selling him tidbits about the probe, authorities said.

Force also created another persona, “French Maid”, who purported to have inside information on the probe that he sold to Ulbricht.

Force also invested in a company that brokered the digital currency bitcoin and served as the firm’s chief compliance officer while still with the DEA.

During his time with the company Force used his position to seize $300,000 from a customer and transfer it to his private account, authorities said.

Authorities said a former Secret Service agent, Shaun Bridges, had previously agreed to plead guilty to theft charges involving the separate siphoning of funds from Silk Road. Bridges is scheduled to enter his plea in August.