Quote:US President Donald Trump says he has signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal drugs were sold.

Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 in New York in a narcotics and money-laundering conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.

Trump championed Ulbricht's cause, joining libertarians who said the conviction was an example of government overreach. On Tuesday, he said he had called Ulbricht's mother to inform her that he had granted a pardon to her son.

Silk Road, which was shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ulbricht, sold illegal drugs using Bitcoin, as well as hacking equipment and stolen passports.

Ulbricht was found guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.

During his trial, prosecutors said Ulbricht's website, hosted on the hidden "dark web", sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs anonymously.

Prosecutors said he also solicited six murders-for-hire, including one against a former Silk Road employee, though they said no evidence existed that any killings were actually carried out.

"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site on Tuesday. "He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"

(01-24-2025, 04:33 PM)Spore Wrote: Pretty big deal, with 11 years gone I'm sure he had some time to really think about things, and what to do with whatever crypto he managed to stash away.
I'm glad he got out, he is probably going through so many emotions right now.

He recently made a statement on x here: https://x.com/RealRossU/status/1882609887878029519

(01-22-2025, 08:39 PM)Dismas Wrote: Here's a speech he gave at a BTC conference back in 2021: