Former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges may have also targeted Bitcoin Shop, according to CEO Charles Allen.
Bridges was charged along with former Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) Carl Force for pocketing bitcoins from Silk Road in the course of its investigation, as well as other instances of abusing their positions to make unlawful gains from bitcoin businesses.
In a recent interview on Bloomberg, Allen related a bizarre incident. Bridges showed up with two other agents at the home of Bitcoin Shop co-founder and COO Michal Handerhan at around 7 am- "in his jammies, with his family" there. Ostensibly, the visit was related Bitcoin Shop's purpose of roughly $250,000 of Spondoolies mining equipment, which got stuck in customs. The agents also asked further follow-up questions to companies Bitcoin Shop has invested in.
Bitcoin Shop entered the mining space several months ago as it sought to diversify into different areas of the bitcoin economy.
Allen said the customs issue, which happened in February, was apparently a standard investigation in which Bridges "somehow ended up on the case". His questions, Allen said, were well beyond what would be standard for a customs release. He suspects that Bridges may have been out to rob Bitcoin Shop and its partners.
Speaking to Finance Magnates, Allen clarified that GoCoin, in which Bitcoin Shop is an investor, was subsequently approached by Bridges. GoCoin CEO Steve Beauregard promptly responded to inquiries, and the equipment was released 1-2 days later.
He added that the agents did not disclose why they were investigating the shipment or why it deserved exceptional scrutiny.
