US Marshals Auction Bitcoin Stolen By Rogue DEA Agents...Previously Stolen Separately By The US Government

Remember Shaun Bridges and Carl Force?

It's OK if you don't. Most people probably won't.

Shaun and Carl were both DEA agents working out of a Baltimore based task force on the Silk Road case, trying to shutdown trade for (mostly) illicit goods primarily settled in Bitcoin. A case, I must note, that is already quite controversial giving the extremely heavy-handed punishment that was ultimately handed out for what was essentially the operation of a website.

Anyway, both Shaun and Carl went rogue when presented with the tantalizing prospect of difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency delights. Shaun and Carl (attempted) to bail with Bitcoin valued at approximately $800,000 in 2015 dollars. Morality aside, probably a pretty good gamble if they had managed to execute a bit better.

800,000/251.52 = 3181 Bitcoin heisted. Yowza.

That booty comes out to just shy of $30 million at current prices, and could be worth even much more in the future.

Anyway, long story short they were both busted, Carl copped to the theft first by pleading guilty and later Shaun was also successfully prosecuted and (much?) of the stolen Bitcoin was "returned" to the US Government, who had previously held title to it briefly since stealing it from free market participants at the Silk Road.

The total amount auctioned is only 2170 Bitcoin, so obviously only a portion of the ill-gotten (and semi-recovered) gains are being auctioned in this particular auction. However, a previous auction on January 22 also released 3813 Bitcoin to the market, so it is fair to say this is a regular thing. The market reaction is likely to be a non-event.

However, if you happen to have a spare $200,000 US to place down as a deposit, you too can earn the privilege of bidding on Bitcoins that not only will the government know you have afterwards, they'll know exactly where you have them! What a deal!

I wonder if these auctions coins actually sell at a discount, given what a pain this whole process is...

Incidentally, any claims that this is the reason for recent weakness in Bitcoin price seem specious. This is a fairly regular event, and not all that large relative to the market. Plus, these auctions take place off-exchange so directly they have no effect on price at all. Prognosticating on the causes of these drops is often pointless, and I think ascribing any causation to these auctions is of little merit.

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Sources: Google, CoinTelegraph, Zero Hedge, CoinMarketCap
Copyright: CoinTelegraph, CoinMarketCap