The saga of Shaun Bridges who was turned from the fiat order by the power of sound money, and who was rearrested the day before he was to surrender to prison has gotten more interesting. Behold, prosecutors are refusing to allow the unsealing of their latest warrant aimed at Bridges because they claim unknown allies of Bridges remain at large. It appears the investigation into the Silk Road by United States Government agents has been far more damaging to the USG's cause than any operation of the Silk Road has. Witness:
Case 1:15-mj-02125-BPG Document 15 Filed 02/22/16 Page 1 of 2
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLANDUNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
SHAUN W. BRIDGES
Defendant*
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*****CASE NO. 15-mj-02125-BPG
UNITED STATES’ RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT’S
MOTION FOR UNSEALING
The United States, through its undersigned attorneys, hereby states its opposition to the
motion for unsealing filed by defendant Shaun W. Bridges.The government submits that
unsealing of the warrant at this time would jeopardize an active and ongoing investigation into
criminal conduct by Bridges and others with whom he is working. In sum, the government
believes through evidence gathered to date that Bridges, working with others, has committed a
series of additional crimes, including crimes that took place both before and after the date of the
entry of his guilty pleas and sentencing in the Northern District of California in case 15-cr-319 RS
(NDCA). Although Bridges himself is in custody on that underlying case at present, his coconspirator(s) remain at liberty and thus, disclosure of the details contained in the search warrant
could jeopardize the new investigation by alerting additional targets of the investigation. In
addition, it would alert Bridges as to the government’s knowledge and investigation at this point 1
– things that may aid Bridges and/or his co-conspirators in covering up the full extent of their
crimes.
Nor does Bridges’ stated reason for unsealing the warrant outweigh the government’s
interest in protecting the secrecy of its ongoing investigation: although Bridges claims he needs to
have the facts underlying the warrant in order to get back his property, this ignores the fact that he
is in custody and would not be entitled to possess such property in a custodial setting in any event.1 It should be noted that since the affidavit and search warrant, the government’s investigation has yielded
additional facts and evidence not discussed in the warrant and affidavit.Case 1:15-mj-02125-BPG Document 15 Filed 02/22/16 Page 2 of 2
Moreover, it ignores the fact that portions of the seized “property” actually belong to the
government and was stolen by Bridges, including, for example, a MacBook computer that the
government has discovered was property that Bridges stole upon his exit from the U.S. Secret
Service. 2 Finally, the property will not be destroyed and thus, even if Bridges were lawfully
entitled to it, he suffers no irreparable harm as a result of the government’s possession of property
that was seized pursuant to a lawful federal search warrant.
For these reasons and those contained in the government’s original sealing motion, the
government submits the documents at issue should remain under seal until further order. The
government represents that as soon as the warrant and materials may be unsealed in a manner that
will not jeopardize the ongoing investigation, it will so move the Court.DATED: February 22, 2016
Respectfully submitted,
RAYMOND N. HULSER
Chief, Public Integrity Sections/ Richard B. Evans
Trial Attorney
Department of Justice
Public Integrity Section
1400 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 514-1412
E-mail: richard.b.evans@usdoj.gov
Kathryn Haun
William Frentzen
Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Northern District of CaliforniaDated: February 22, 2016
2 The Court may not be aware that, although Bridges “resigned” from the U.S. Secret Service, he was first placed
on administrative leave given his misconduct and, only once he was apprised of this, did he resign.