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?