The United States president pardoned the founder of the underground illicit drugs marketplace, as part of a raft of sweeping announcements during the first two days of his new administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for drug trafficking, computer hacking, and money laundering.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., discusses President Donald Trump pardoning Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht on ‘The Will Cain Show.’
A letter sent to a Congressional Representative by Ross Ulbricht about his impending release from prison moved the Representative to tears.
Ulbricht, 40, was about 10 years into his life sentence for helming an online black market where drug dealers, money launderers, and traffickers used bitcoins to mask more than $214 million in illicit trades. (Ars thoroughly documented the Silk Road saga here .)
In 2015, a 31-year-old yoga enthusiast from Austin named Ross Ulbricht was found guilty of being the online drug kingpin “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Convicted on 7 counts, the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Trump pardoned Ulbricht on Tuesday and now he’s a free man after more than 10 years in custody.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to his website, where users could buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods with bitcoin.
Elon Musk said Tuesday he was exploring a presidential pardon for “Bitcoin Jesus,” who was arrested last year on fraud and tax evasion charges,
Ross Ulbricht was found guilty in 2015 of creating and operating Silk Road, a hidden website where people bought and sold illegal drugs, as well as other unlawful goods and services.
Libertarian and crypto allies of Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for distributing drugs on his Silk Road website, leveraged President Trump’s desire for political support to secure his release.