DEA Agent Gets 6 Years for Bitcoin Theft

A U.S. district judge on Monday sentenced a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent to 78 months in prison for stealing bitcoins during a federal investigation into the international online black market Silk Road. Carl Force pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, money laundering, and obstruction of justice in a San Francisco federal court. The black market and drug bazaar operated for more than two years before it was shuttered in 2013. Prosecutors reached a plea deal with ex-Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges, who was also charged with stealing bitcoins. Force convinced the site’s creator to pay him $50,000 in bitcoins by pretending he had information on the investigation, but later told the DEA the payment was never made. Force instead funneled the bitcoins into a personal account, prosecutors said.