back to article Secret Service Silk Road scammer in the slammer

Shaun Bridges, the ex-US Secret Service agent who fleeced Silk Road drug dealers during a probe into the cyber-souk, has managed to find a fire hotter than the frying pan he was already inhabiting. Bridges pleaded guilty in a San Francisco court in June, admitting his part in a scam that netted US820,000 in Bitcoins from Silk …

  1. x 7

    Oh boy.

    He's going to need a big jar of vaseline soon

  2. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
    Facepalm

    From 71 months to...

    Off the cuff, anybody have an idea what the 71 months are now going to turn into?

    1. Kurt Meyer

      Re: From 71 months to...

      I believe it's an automatic five spot for attempted flight, but the Feds have been steadily increasing the tariff on other charges, so it might be more.

      Served consecutively, of course, so almost 11 years of "all expense-paid vacation for one."

      I don't believe there is parole for Federal time any longer, IIRC it was eliminated some years ago.

      1. ZSn

        Re: From 71 months to...

        In addition he was going to spend it in a minimum security prison. If they are feeling *very* nasty throwing him into a high security prison (because he's a flight risk) as an ex-agent will be deeply unpleasant for him, despite being a purported martial arts expert.

        Taking the 71 months would have been the brighter option, or better still not being a thief in the first place.

        1. PJF

          Re: From 71 months to...

          "Taking the 71 months would have been the brighter option . . ."

          Root of all evil.

          In about 6 years, in Fed Med, he WOULD'VE been "free-n-clear" to claim his stash. But, like an idiot, just got greedy. Now he can look forward to a med/high Fed Pen, and at least double the time

          Got Vasoline?!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: From 71 months to...

      Don't forget the cash, he was found with details of a few offshore bank accounts.

      The Feds probably didn't know about those until he was picked up, now he can be forced to forfeit the contents.

  3. Gene Cash Silver badge

    No news...

    So it's interesting, seeing as to how I'm in the US, and there's NO coverage of this whatsoever.

    It's never been mentioned on Reuters, UPI, AP, CNN, Fox, or anywhere else that there was a flaky SS agent involved in the bust.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: No news...

      Isn't that why we read El Reg? To get the dirt that "other" news agencies won't report? That and the entertainment value, of course.

    2. JoeF

      Re: No news...

      The tech sites Ars Technica and Wired had extensive coverage, including articles about the two Secret Service agents.

      The last article on Ars Technica was just a few days ago:

      http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/former-silk-road-staffer-and-victim-in-murder-for-hire-to-serve-no-prison-time/

    3. Turtle

      @Gene Cash Re: No news...

      "So it's interesting, seeing as to how I'm in the US, and there's NO coverage of this whatsoever. It's never been mentioned on Reuters, UPI, AP, CNN, Fox, or anywhere else that there was a flaky SS agent involved in the bust."

      On http://www.reuters.com/search/news?blob=%22Shaun+Bridges%22 we find that Reuters has published 13 news stories about Shaun Bridges.

      I assume that your statements about the other news organizations are just as accurate as your statement about Reuters. I just couldn't be bothered to look any further.

  4. LucreLout

    Not bright

    Being dumb enough to commit these crimes isn't great, but being dumb enough to compound that with trivial mistakes?

    Step one - Have, find, manufacture a plausible reason to be in CA.

    Step two - Mail the passport to yourself at a top notch hotel in Mexico.

    Step three - Cross the border in reverse: if (apparently) millions of Mexicans can do it one direction you can do it in the other.

    Step four - Having memorized your corporate account numbers, go to a Mexican bank and withdraw cash.

    Step five - Check into the hotel and wait for your passport.

    Step six - Flee. Properly.

    At no point would you then need to be carrying a packed bag, your passport, or any corporate records. Doing so is just asking to get caught. And I can't imagine he'll do time in minimum security now: It'll be a long journey into hell, with only the certain knowledge that it was self inflicted for comfort.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Not bright

      Yup. You can mail just about anything you need almost anywhere using FedEx etc.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    From what I know about Bitcoin (which admittedly is not a lot), a primary purpose is to remain anonymous wrt to transactions. If so, how did they find out that he had stolen the Bitcoins? It makes me wonder if the FBI has a backdoor to Bitcoin's block chain process.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Read up on the case (very interesting, quite a lot of WTF?!?-moments, you couln't make this up), no need for backdoors. Pro tip: even old school cash is not very anonymous if you start waving it around.

  6. Tom 38

    What a dumbass

    He'd clearly managed to stash some of his gains offshore and hidden from the Feds, just take the 71 months, don't be a dick and be out in 36. On-shore the money later as consultancy fees paid from the dummy corps.

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