It&#x27;s worth comparing this account with Joshuah Bearman&#x27;s reporting in Wired in May: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;silk-road-2&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;silk-road-2&#x2F;</a>. The NYT article describes a frustrated IRS agent (Alford) who strongly suspects Ulbricht is DPR and struggles in vain to get anybody on the investigation to listen.<p>In Wired&#x27;s version of events, however, Alford&#x27;s sleuthing had turned up the email address &quot;rossulbricht@gmailcom&quot;, but &quot;[t]he IRS didn’t know what any of this meant, so that’s where it ended. The info sat in a case file until dumb luck put Alford in Tarbell’s lab ...&quot;<p>The NYT&#x27;s and Wired&#x27;s depiction of Alford&#x27;s role in the case seem at odds.