Corrupt Silk Road investigator pleads guilty, admits to $240K movie deal

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sigmond

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Carl Force was "Nob," "French Maid," and "Death from Above."

by Joe Mullin - Jul 1, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO—Carl Mark Force, the head of a Baltimore-based team of law enforcement that investigated the Silk Road drug trafficking website, has pled guilty to extortion, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.Standing before US District Judge Richard Seeborg in an orange inmate's jumpsuit, Force admitted that he stole from the Silk Road—and its founder Ross Ulbricht—even as he was investigating the website.

Prosecutors described the details of the charges against him in court. Later, as Seeborg questioned Force about each accusation, Force admitted to each one.
Acting as "Nob," the government-sanctioned account through which he interacted with Ulbricht's online persona Dread Pirate Roberts, Force took payments from Ulbricht that he didn't tell his superiors about, and diverted the bitcoins into his personal accounts.

Ulbricht was tried earlier this year and sentenced to life in prison in May.

He also created a second unauthorized account, "French Maid," from which he collected approximately $100,000 in bitcoins by offering "counter-intelligence" on law enforcement.
An attempt to extort money from DPR using a third account, "Death From Above," wasn't successful.

The government also charged Force with having having multiple conflicts of interest, including a contract from 20th Century Fox to be paid up to $240,000 to tell his story for an upcoming movie. It isn't clear how much of that, if any, Force actually got paid. The contract was signed in 2014, and Force didn't reveal it to his superiors at the DEA.

Force was a key source in Wired's Silk Road cover story published in April 2015, which concludes by describing Force's own arrest.

A second conflict involved a company called CoinMKT, which Force worked for and also was a primary investor in. He used his job at DEA to help them run criminal background checks. At one point, he confiscated $370,000 from a CoinMKT user, saying he was taking it on behalf of the DEA, but only put $37,000 in the government account, keeping the rest. (That's more than the $297,000previously reported.)

The sentencing will take place in October. The plea deal doesn't include a specific sentence. The maximum sentence for money laundering is 20 years. Force has agreed to pay about $500,000 in restitution, according to his attorney. Around $150,000 of that has already been paid.

"He's accepting responsibility," Force's attorney, Ivan Bridges, told reporters after today's hearing.
Secret Service Agent Shaun Bridges, another man on the Baltimore task force, has also agreed to plead guilty to government charges against him.
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http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/corrupt-silk-road-agent-pleads-guilty/
 
This dude lived in the neighborhood where I copped dope for a long time
And I always found it strange how my guy uses to get locked up all the fucking time and be out a day later. Everyone in that neighborhood knew the dude and that he was a dealer...I wouldn't be surprised if he was a CI.

If you do a case search on this Carl force asshole he was one of the agents involved in busting Felicia snoop Pearson from the wire. She and a bunch of other ppl were charged with running a dope ring a few years ago

But I totally wouldn't be surprised of my old dope dealer had run ins with this guy...they were literally neighbors. Maybe he told him about big things and got to peddle his shit and stay out of jail.

I hope that fucker rots in jail for a long fucking time...I'm sure he will be given a warm welcome...corrupt dea agent.
 
crimsonjunk said:
How does this not effect Ross's case? He should get a new trial if the team investigating him was dirty.
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From what I remember..

The Judge ruled that there were two separate investigations. One out of Baltimore and one out of New York..One dea/dhs and one fbi. So, once the prosecution found out about the corrupt people in Baltimore, they relied on evidence collected by the fbi. It's more complex than that, but that is sort of the gist of it.
 
Sigmond said:
From what I remember..

The Judge ruled that there were two separate investigations. One out of Baltimore and one out of New York..One dea/dhs and one fbi. So, once the prosecution found out about the corrupt people in Baltimore, they relied on evidence collected by the fbi. It's more complex than that, but that is sort of the gist of it.
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That sounds like fertile ground for an appeal. Hopefully Ross can continue to afford good representation.
 
The fact that they were allowed to use the supposed murder-for-hire stuff against him should be enough for an appeal imo. Good luck in Federal Court though..
 
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