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It was evident that Carl had fucked up and accidentally written his own name when selling
information to DPR as someone else. The Feds later learned that Carl had created several other fake
accounts that were used to threaten, coerce, or bribe the Dread Pirate Roberts. As all the loose ends
were tied back together, they found dozens of clues that linked Carl to $757,000 in stolen Bitcoins.
Faced with an endless list of evidence and the possibility of spending decades in a maximumsecurity
prison, Carl Force surrendered to authorities and pled guilty to charges of theft of
government property, wire fraud, money laundering, and conflict of interest. He was sentenced to
seventy-eight months in federal prison.
Shaun Bridges wasn’t prepared to go as quietly. When he discovered that the government was
investigating him for money laundering and obstruction of justice, Shaun tried to have his work
laptop, which contained a trove of evidence against him, erased. He then attempted (unsuccessfully)
to change his name and Social Security number. When none of those tactics worked, he pled guilty to
charges related to the $820,000 he had taken from the Silk Road and was given seventy-one months in
prison and told to pay $500,000 in restitution. Unlike Carl, who turned himself in and began his
sentence, Shaun was caught trying to leave the country with a computer, a bulletproof vest, passports,
and a cell phone. The two men are now serving out their sentences in a federal penitentiary. They will
both be released in 2022.
• • •
After Ross was arrested, Julia saw him a couple of times, venturing to New York to visit him in
prison. They spoke on the phone every few weeks. Sometimes she cried when they talked; she always
spoke of God. And then, one day in mid-2015, she stopped answering his phone calls. While she still
loved Ross, she decided that it was time to focus on herself and her business. A year later Vivian’s
Muse was one of the most successful boudoir photography studios in the country. Julia still hoped to
find a good man to marry, one who would give her a child or two and a house with a white picket
fence where she could live happily ever after.
• • •
Curtis Green (the Gooch) could have faced up to forty years in prison for being arrested with a kilo of
cocaine in Spanish Fork, Utah. Instead, because he was tortured and fake-murdered by two
government agents (Carl and Shaun) who had broken the law themselves, a federal judge in Baltimore
let Curtis off with “time served.”
After his trial Green began selling Silk Road memorabilia online, including Silk Road hats, Silk
Road T-shirts, and signed copies of his memoir—which he is still writing—detailing his life as a Silk
Road employee.
Gary Alford still works for the Internal Revenue Service in New York City, focusing on financerelated
crimes. He was given an award by the government for his work on the Silk Road case. The
gold placard, which sits on his desk at work, credits Gary with being “The Sherlock Holmes of
Cyberspace.” He still reads everything three times.
• • •
• • •