President Donald Trump said Tuesday he issued a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison nearly a decade ago for creating the Silk Road, a website law enforcement called the “most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” on the internet—best-known for sales of illicit drugs.
Law enforcement said Ulbricht created the “most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” on ... [+]
Ulbricht, a 40-year-old native of Austin, Texas, graduated from the University of Texas and Pennsylvania State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in materials science, respectively, according to a website created by his family.
Ulbricht developed a “deep interest” in libertarian philosophy and joined a libertarian club at Pennsylvania State University, his family said, adding Ulbricht was “passionate about sharing the ideas of liberty, privacy and free markets.”
In 2011, Ulbricht—who used the moniker “Dread Pirate Roberts”—founded Silk Road, an anonymous e-commerce site on the Tor network that allowed users to conceal their computer’s IP address and hide their locations.
Law enforcement alleged Ulbricht “deliberately” operated Silk Road as an “online criminal marketplace” and enabled users to trade illegal drugs anonymously.
At least six drug overdose deaths have allegedly been linked to Silk Road, and Ulbricht was accused of soliciting six murders-for-hires in connection with operating the site, though prosecutors said there was no evidence those murders were carried out.
Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2015, after he was convicted of seven charges, including distributing narcotics, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiring to distribute narcotics, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiring to commit computer hacking, conspiring to traffic in false identity documents and conspiring to commit money laundering.
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The Silk Road was an online marketplace where more than 100,000 users traded illegal drugs and other illegal goods while laundering hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Justice Department. Vendors on the site were located in more than 10 countries, including the U.S., Germany, Canada, the U.K. and Spain, among others, and as of Sept. 23, 2014, nearly 13,000 listings for controlled substances were posted on the site, prosecutors said. Prosecutors estimate more than $200 million was traded on the site before it was shut down after Ulbricht’s arrest in 2013. As of Nov. 3, 2020, more than $1 billion worth of digital currency has been seized by law enforcement from Silk Road, according to the FBI. At the time of his arrest, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara accused Ulbricht of being a “drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions.”
Ulbricht’s family has called for his release through the #FreeRoss movement, which was supported by libertarian voters and cryptocurrency supporters. Ulbricht has denied any involvement in illegal trading on Silk Road, claiming during his four-week trial he wanted to “empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity.” Ulbricht’s family has argued prosecutors wrongly held him responsible for what others sold on Silk Road.
Trump announced on Truth Social he pardoned Ulbricht, who was held in a high-security prison in Florence, Colorado, saying the “scum that worked to convict [Ulbricht]” are the “same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me.” Trump appeared to appeal to libertarian voters while speaking at the Libertarian National Convention in May 2024, saying he would pardon Ulbricht “if you vote for me.” Preston Byrne, a partner at the law firm Byrne & Storm, told Bloomberg Trump’s proposed pardon also likely appealed to crypto advocates who saw Silk Road as the first use for the decentralized cryptocurrency bitcoin.