President Donald Trump has pardoned dark web creator Ross Ulbricht, also known as “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Ulbricht operated the anonymous digital marketplace known as Silk Road between 2011 and 2013.
In 2017, Ulbricht, unfortunately, lost his life sentence appeal.
Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Lost Life Sentence Appeal
Law enforcement shut the site down and arrested him at a California public library. At the time of his sentencing in San Francisco in 2015, Ulbricht was 31 years old. He was given two life sentences plus forty years, according to a post from the current ruler of the United States, Donald Trump.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump posted to his Truth Social site on Tuesday. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
According to a report by NPR, in an indictment, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara described the Silk Road as a meeting place for criminals hoping to “buy and sell illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services anonymously and outside the reach of law enforcement.”
Trump had vowed to commute Ulbricht’s sentence during the Libertarian National Convention in Washington in May of 2024 and has gotten close to so-called “techno libertarians,” like Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Trump has also publicly promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” propping up prominent Bitcoin users and supporters.
Ross will be freed too
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2025
Ulbricht took to social media to celebrate Trump’s election victory and remind him of his promise. One week after the election, he wrote on X that he “can finally see the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel.”
Ulbricht was a typical “victimless crime” victim of the system. The legal system destroyed his life over “crimes” that were not actually crimes other than being made crimes by scribbles on paper by rulers. Now, if all of the “criminals” who are rotting in cells for the “crime” of smoking plants could be released, we may finally be onto something. In the meantime, it was a morally sound decision by Donald Trump to pardon Ross Ulbricht.
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