President Trump on Tuesday pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road drug market and a cult hero in crypto and libertarian circles.
In doing so, Mr. Trump called for political contributions from the cryptocurrency industry, which spent more than $100 million to influence the outcome of the election, fulfilling a promise he repeatedly made during the campaign. Ulbricht, 40, a Bitcoin pioneer, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2015 after being convicted of crimes including distributing drugs over the Internet.
“I just called Ross William Ulbricht's mother to let her know,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, misspelling Ulbricht's name and asking the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. mentioned. “The scumbags who worked to convict him were the same lunatics responsible for weaponizing modern governments against me.”
Silk Road, which operated from a seedy corner of the Internet known as the Dark Web, has become an international drug marketplace in the nearly three years since its founding, with more than 1.5 million transactions, including the sale of heroin, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. Trading just got easier. (Authorities say the site generated more than $200 million in revenue.) In court, prosecutors argued that Mr. Ulbricht also abetted the killings of people he considered blackmailers, but the killings did not take place. He admitted that there was no evidence that it was.
Despite his crimes, Ulbricht remains popular among crypto enthusiasts, as the Silk Road was one of the first places people used Bitcoin to buy and sell goods. His supporters have long argued that his sentence was too punitive and chanted “Free Ross” online and at industry gatherings.
“It's hard to argue that Ross Ulbricht wasn't one of the most successful and influential entrepreneurs of Bitcoin's early days,” said Pete Rizzo, editor of the news publication Bitcoin Magazine. “This is an industry coming together to say, 'Let's take back what's ours.'”
Ulbricht's pardon has been eagerly awaited by cryptocurrency enthusiasts. On Monday, after Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Elon Musk, one of the president's biggest allies, posted concerns about X. In response, he wrote: was also released. ”
Ulbricht, who grew up in Austin, Texas, was arrested in 2013 after the FBI tracked him down at a San Francisco library. Two years later, when he was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the judge called Ulbricht “the kingpin of a global digital drug trafficking enterprise” and said his actions were “deeply destructive to the fabric of our society.” He said that it was a “target”.
Prosecutors say at least six deaths were caused by drugs purchased on Silk Road. “All Ross Ulbricht cared about was his ever-growing pile of Bitcoins,” the father of one of the deceased told the court.
However, a life sentence was felt by many observers to be harsh. In 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld Ulbricht's conviction and upheld the harshness of his punishment.
“While we may not have imposed the same sentence ourselves in the trial court, based on the facts of this case, life imprisonment was within the range of acceptable sentences that the district court could impose,” the court said. said.
Mr. Ulbricht is serving his sentence at a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. In calling for his release, crypto industry advocates say he has been convicted of a non-violent crime and is not on trial for prosecutors' most explosive charges: pointed out. He paid people to kill him. At the 2021 Bitcoin conference in Miami, Ulbricht's supporters played a recording of him speaking from prison.
“I had very big dreams for Bitcoin,” he said.
Last year, Trump embraced Ulbricht's claims during his campaign, first in a speech at a Libertarian event and then at the annual Bitcoin conference in Nashville. He focused on social media, posting the hashtag #FreeRossDayOne on his site Truth Social.
“A huge thank you to everyone who voted for President Trump on my behalf,” said Ulbricht's message posted on X after the election.
“Finally, there is a light of freedom at the end of the tunnel,” the post said.
benjamin weiser Contributed to the report.
