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Former Secret Service agent sentenced in bitcoin money laundering scheme

By TechTaffy Desk

A former U.S. Secret Service Special Agent, who had been a member of the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, was sentenced to prison on charges of money laundering, according to a statement from the Justice department.

Shaun W. Bridges, 35, of Laurel, Md., was sentenced to 24 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco following his earlier guilty plea to one count of money laundering.  Judge Seeborg ordered that the sentence be served consecutively to a previous sentence that Bridges is currently serving. Mr. Bridges was also ordered to forfeit approximately 1,500 bitcoin and other fiat currency which has a current value of approximately $10.4 million.

Mr. Bridges had been a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service for approximately six years in the Baltimore Field Office.  Between 2012 and 2014, he was assigned to the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, a multi-agency group investigating illegal activity on the Silk Road, a covert online marketplace for illicit goods, including drugs.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s San Francisco Division, IRS-CI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office Cyber Crimes Unit, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General in Washington D.C.

[Image courtesy: Department of Justice]

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