The level of corruption is indeed staggering:<p>> According to a government document, Force, operating as "Nob," in August 2013 convinced Ulbricht to pay him $50,000 in bitcoins by pretending he had information on the investigation. While Force reported the discussion to the DEA, he falsely claimed no payment had been made but instead diverted the bitcoins to a personal account, prosecutors said. Force, also without authorities' knowledge, used another online moniker, "French Maid," and offered Ulbricht information on the investigation for about $98,000 in bitcoins in September 2013, prosecutors said.<p>The guy was playing both sides. How can his testimony against Ulbricht be considered trustworthy at this point? I haven't followed the Silk Road case closely, but from my not-carefully-examined position, it seems like the government waited to bring charges against Force until after their case against Ulbricht was well on its way, or had already concluded. I wonder if the case against Ulbricht would have gone differently had he been able to challenge the credibility of the witnesses against him based on what we know today, that they are guilty of these crimes. I also wonder whether Ulbricht's prosecution knew about Force's crimes at the time, and I wonder whether that was disclosed to Ulbricht.<p>Where does this all leave Ulbricht?
The title should be <i>U.S. Agent (now Ex-) gets over six years for Bitcoin theft in Silk Road probe.</i>. Reuters try to emphasise the agent is not government to distance the agent from the authorities, but I think we'd be blind to pretend elsewhere police don't confiscate people's money for their own pensions or salaries, where dogs get shot for sport, where senators accept cushy jobs after their tenure in return for having a certain stance, government paying way too much for screws and toilet seats. This is one rare case where an agent abused their position actually got caught.
Ex-US agent seems kind of deliberate distancing. He was an agent when he did the deed and the title should present that accordingly.<p>Edit: ninja'd by meric
This is beyond fucked. Those granted such incredible influence and the trust to not abuse their position of power should be punished proportionately when they do so.<p>This, on the other hand, is a joke.
just to point out they were threatening aaron schwartz with 50+ years when he killed himself. he just downloaded medical journals from the campus networking closet.<p>these guys were corrupt officials engaging in, hacking, conspiracy (RICO laws), theft, destruction of evidence and probably blackmail and money laundering and tax evasion.<p>6 years.<p>schwartz was a political activist, these guys were just dirty special agents. thats how the book is thrown.