The Silk Road was an online black market exchange, most famous for using bitcoins as a way to pay for illegal goods and services.  The US government, amongst others, investigated and shut down the site.  Several arrests have been made around the world, and a fair number of people have been convicted of illegal activity that they conducted while Silk Road was still operating.

One of the strangest aspects of the case is the involvement of Carl Mark Force IV, a DEA agent tasked with investigating Silk Road.  It seems the lure of easy and supposedly untraceable money was too much for him, and he attempted to rake some of it in.  He set up  few accounts in order to hijack the accounts of others, trusting in the anonymous nature of bitcoin to hide his identity.  Using his authority as a government law enforcement official, he froze bank accounts of suspects in order to transfer some of the money to himself.  Apparently he even sold details of the official investigation to the people he was tasked with investigating, an egregious violation of trust if true.

This online article provides a brief thumbnail of the twists and turns of the story, and is worth the time to read.  But what I found odd is how the author seems to think that the most important aspect of the tale is that the DEA agent had firearms at home when arrested!

The rogue agent had a 9mm handgun in his possession, as well as four other firearms scattered about his home.  It also appears to be shocking (SHOCKING!) that there was also 650 rounds of ammunition stored at the house.

So the prosecutors are in a tizzy because of 650 rounds.  You know what I call that?  A good day at the range!

I hope I never get falsely arrested for crimes I would never commit.  They would probably give me life for the supply of .22 ammunition I have on the bookshelf, let alone the 9mm rounds stacked next to the desk.