Two federal agents whose work helped to shut down the Silk Road online drug marketplace have been accused of stealing from the Darknet market during the investigation. The criminal complaint (PDF), unveiled today, reveals a remarkable level of corruption within the investigation into the drug marketplace, which hosted more than $200 million in transactions.

Government prosecutors have charged former DEA agent Carl Force and former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges with wire fraud and money laundering. Force is also charged with stealing government property and "conflict of interest."

The government had multiple investigations into Silk Road. Force and Bridges both worked on one based out of Baltimore. Force was the lead undercover agent in charge of communicating with Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR), the operator of the Silk Road site, while Bridges was a computer forensics expert.

In 2013, 31-year-old Ross Ulbricht was accused of being DPR; he was tried and convicted on drug trafficking and money laundering charges last month. The same laptop that contained a mountain of evidence used against Ulbricht also contained evidence now being used against these two former agents, including their chats with DPR; a file labeled "LE counterintel" may also be helpful in convicting Force and Bridges.

“French Maid” was one DEA agent's unofficial account

Force was a DEA agent for 15 years, from 1999 until his own agency began investigating him in 2014. His annual salary was about $150,000, but investigators saw that his personal checking accounts received at least $757,000 during the time period of April 2013 to May 2014. His wife was a homemaker during this period, and there was no legitimate income to the household beyond Force's salary.

As part of his role investigating Silk Road, Force assumed the personality of "Nob," who put himself out to DPR as a drug smuggler "operating in the United States with connections to criminal organizations throughout the world." As Nob, Force told DPR that he had access to useful inside information about the government's investigation of Silk Road.

The complaint says that Force told his superiors about his communications with DPR and disclosed that he asked DPR for payment in bitcoins in exchange for the inside information Nob was offering. But his report specifically stated, "DPR made no such payment." In fact, the feds allege, Force was paid 400 bitcoins, worth about $40,000 at the time of their transfer. Later, Force took a second payment of 525 bitcoins, then worth about $50,000.

In their case, the authorities also claim that Force also created another, unauthorized Silk Road identity called "French Maid" and offered to sell DPR information about the government's investigation into Silk Road for another $100,000 in bitcoins. According to the complaint, DPR paid up, and Force deposited the money in his personal account.

In an entry dated September 13, 2013 in the Silk Road "log" file on his computer, Ulbricht wrote, "French Maid claims that mark karpeles has given my name to DHLS [sic]. I offered him $100K for the name."

The log file was shown in court during Ulbricht's trial but parts were redacted, including the one-line entry for September 13, now revealed in today's complaint. The file indicates that Ulbricht paid the $100,000 but then says he hadn't heard from French Maid in four days, so it isn't clear what, if anything, Force provided after getting the money.

At the time, the Baltimore task force was trying to arrange an interview with Mark Karpeles, the owner of the now-defunct Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. This face "was not widely known in law enforcement circles," indicating that "French Maid" had to be someone in the Baltimore office. Force "was one of a small group of individuals that knew of those discussions."

During the investigation, Force also worked for a "digital currency exchange company" called CoinMKT. Force used his position as a DEA agent to help the company do criminal background checks, and at one point, he froze $297,000 in the account of a CoinMKT customer, and transferred them to his own personal account.

The money was concealed through a complex series of transactions, involving pass-through accounts and $235,000 sent to a bank account in Panama, prosecutors state. Force made investments in real estate and businesses, paid off his mortgage, "and wrote several very large checks for tens of thousands of dollars," according to investigators.

Failed extortion attempt

Force used a carrot to get money from DPR, but he also tried to use the proverbial stick. He created another persona called "Death From Above," and threatened to reveal what he thought was DPR's identity, unless he got paid $250,000. It didn't work.

On April 1, "Death From Above" began using information available only to law enforcement to threaten DPR:

"I know that you had something to do with Curtis [Green]'s disappearance and death," he wrote on April 1, 2013. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm coming for you. Tuque. You are a dead man. Don't think you can elude me. De Oppresso Liber."

Curtis Green was a former Silk Road admin who DPR tried to have killed, according to government allegations. But it didn't work—the "hitman" he interacted with was actually a DEA agent. Today's complaint suggests that Force knew of this operation, and sought to use it against DPR.

Five days later, DPR replied to Death From Above:

I don't know who you are or what your problem is but let me tell you one thing: I've been busting my ass every god damn day for over two years to make this place what it is. I keep my head down, I don't get involved with the drama... somehow psychotic people still turn up at my doorstep... I've been hacked, I've had threats made against the site, and now, thanks to you, I've had threats made against my life. I know I am doing a good thing running this site. Your threats and all of the other psychos aren't going to deter me... stop messaging me and go find something else to do.

Death from Above replied later that day, and made his plan clear. His message references a person the government calls "AA," whom Force knew was a person another agency, Homeland Security Investigations, was looking into as an early Silk Road suspect. It isn't stated in the complaint, but AA seems likely to be Anand Athavale, a Canadian citizen identified during Ulbricht's trial as another Silk Road suspect.

"It's not that easy [AA]," Death From Above wrote. He continued:

I'm legit. Green Beret. Friend of [C.G.]. I have access to TS/SCI files that FBI, DEA, AFP, SOCA would kill for. In fact, that is what I do... kill. The only thing that I do... Don't worry DoD has no interest in your and your little website.

Four days later, he wrote again, sending along AA's full name, date of birth, address, and other details. "Is that enough to get your attention?" he asked. He reiterated that DPR "had something to do with" Curtis Green's death. "So, $250,000 in US cash/bank transfer and I won't give your identity to law enforcement. Consider it punitive damages. Death From Above."

But he didn't have the right guy, and Ulbricht wasn't about to pay him. On April 11, he wrote in his log file: "guy blackmailing me who says he has my ID is bogus."

The complaint also details Force's other alleged violations, not connected to the Silk Road. Force offered to perform "compliance work" for a company called CoinMKT while he was still a DEA agent. In November 2013, he suggested "it would be better if you just pay me in stock options," and indicated he would stay on with DEA until CoinMKT "hits it 'big time'," adding: "I have a lot of down time at DEA so I am confident that I can handle all that needs to be done regarding Legal and Compliance on a daily basis."

In February 2014, CoinMKT emailed Force about suspicious bitcoin withdrawals by a user identified only as R.P., a self-employed actor with a felony conviction in his past for vandalism.

The complaint says that Force arranged to have R.P.'s CoinMKT account seized. It contained $37,000 in cash, as well as $297,000 in four different digital currencies: bitcoin, litecoin, feathercoin, and worldcoin. Force told CoinMKT to convert the $37,000 into a certified check payable to US Marshals Service, and cc'd other DEA employees on that email. Then he "papered up" the seizure of the digital currency, asking a DEA asset specialist not to input the digital currencies into the usual government tracking system.

Ultimately, the $297,000 was allegedly moved into Force's personal Bitstamp account, and then into his personal checking account.

Inside Job

Bridges is alleged to have stolen directly from Silk Road, using special access he gained after arresting Curtis Green, the Silk Road admin who went by the name "Flush."

Green was arrested during a "controlled delivery" of a kilogram of cocaine in January 2013. He cooperated with law enforcement, which took over his Silk Road accounts. On Jan. 25, 2013, Green debriefed with a team that included both Force and Bridges, who were shown how to log into Silk Road vendor accounts, how to reset pins, and how Silk Road admin functions worked.

Later that same day, the Silk Road website "suffered a series of sizeable thefts." The thefts were accomplished "through a series of vendor password and pin resets," that could be done using the admin access that CG had given to the Baltimore agents. The complaint alleges that Bridges, "or someone acting on his behalf," used the Flush account and another account to siphon off approximately 20,000 bitcoins, which was worth $350,000 at the time of the theft.

The next day, DPR told "Nob"—actually agent Carl Force—about his belief that the thefts were associated with the Flush admin account. DPR believed Nob "was a major drug dealer with the ability to procure hit men," and hired Nob to have Green killed. DPR paid $80,000.

A team of Baltimore agents, including Force, faked Green's death. Bridges helped create the "proof of death" photos that were sent to DPR.

Ulbricht, who wasn't charged with any violent crime in his New York case, was charged with attempted murder by the HSI Baltimore office. Now that it's clear that at an allegedly corrupt agent wasn't just tangentially involved in the sting, but actually organized the "hit," it's not clear if prosecutors will be able to push forward with those charges.

Force resigned from the DEA in May 2014, just as the investigation against him began. Bridges resigned earlier this month, after being told he was suspended. After he was suspended, he asked his supervisor if he could access his Dell laptop to get copies of electronic receipts for personal items he'd bought online. When he started to copy a folder called "Bitstamp," his supervisor stopped him and took away the laptop.

Bridges left his second government-issued computer, an Apple laptop, in a cabinet directly above a "wipe" station in his Baltimore office, a place where computers get left to have their hard drives permanently erased. The complaint doesn't say what happened to that Apple machine.

The investigation of the two agents was a joint operation of the IRS Criminal Investigation, Department of Justice, and Homeland Security. The two agents have been charged in the Northern District of California.

Bridges self-surrendered today and appeared before a magistrate judge this morning in San Francisco. He did not enter a plea, and was released on a $500,000 unsecured bond, according to an Associated Press report. Force is also scheduled to appear in federal court today, in Baltimore.