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Slippery Silk Road spook will plead guilty to duping dealers

(Almost) untraceable $820k cash siphon too tempting for sorry security bod.

A US Secret Service information security bod is going to enter a guilty plea to pilfering US$820,000 in Bitcoins from scuttled drug souk the Silk Road.

Shaun W. Bridges admitted to harvesting the anonymous currency before cashing out at the then Mx Gox Bitcoin exchange and going into hiding.

“Mr. Bridges has regretted his actions from the very beginning,” Bridges' lawyer Steve Hale Levin told Bloomberg.

“His decision to plead guilty reflects his complete acceptance of responsibility and is another step towards rehabilitation.”

Bridges was part of the taskforce that nailed former Silk Road admin Curtis Green and boss Ross Ulbricht, and was one of two G-men who stole Bitcoins from the site.

Specifically he used administrative credentials to raid drug dealer accounts prompting UIbricht to contact a murder-for-hire hit against Green who he suspected of the theft.

The contract killing charge is still pending in court.

"Mr. Bridges has regretted his actions from the very beginning," Bridges' lawyer told Bloomberg News. "His decision to plead guilty reflects his complete acceptance of responsibility and is another step towards rehabilitation." Second agent Carl Force is accused of blackmailing Ulbricht out of $235,000 to an account in Panama, and later offering the drug boss information on the police operation in exchange for Bitcoin.

Force requested Ulbricht and was allegedly paid 925 Bitcoins then worth $US90,000 for supplying the kingpin a fake identity and information on the investigation.

The agent did not hand over his PGP key to bosses used to encrypt his conversations with Ulbricht leading the feds to suspect he was hiding something.

Later analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain showed a transaction between Ulbricht and Force.

The agent is also accused of using his position to commandeer Bitcoin wallets the CoinMKT exchange and soliciting help of another agent to help him cover tracks.

Ulbricht was sentenced in May to life in prison for running the $US214 million drug shop.

Bridges will lodge the guilty plea in August.®

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