Convicted darknet pioneer: Silk Road founder pardoned by Donald Trump
Ten years ago, the founder of Silk Road was sentenced to two life sentences and was never to be released. Now he can leave prison.
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The new US president has pardoned the founder and operator of the darknet marketplace Silk Road and vilified those responsible for Ross Ulbricht's conviction. On his short message service Truth Social, Donald Trump declared that the 41-year-old would be released unconditionally “in honor of the libertarian movement”. In the post, Trump claimed that crazy people were responsible for his two life sentences, who had also used state resources to take action against him. He also referred to them as “scum”. The release of Ulbricht was a pleasure for him.
Anonymity thanks to Bitcoin
Ulbricht had opened Silk Road in 2011; although it was not the first such platform for transactions of any kind on the darknet, it was by far the most successful to date. The fast-growing trading platform, which operated on the principle of platforms such as eBay, offered drugs, pirated goods, fake IDs and weapons as well as some legal goods. The site had the appearance of a professional online store, and the anonymity of the darknet protected those responsible. Payment was made in Bitcoin, which gave the then still new blockchain currency a considerable boost. Postal secrecy ensured that most deliveries remained undetected.
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In October 2013, US investigative authorities then lured Ulbricht into a trap, arrested him in a library, confiscated his laptop and searched his apartment in San Francisco. In spring 2015, he was found guilty on seven charges and sentenced to two life sentences. Shortly beforehand, Ulbricht had told the judge in charge that he had “made a terrible mistake”. He knew that she would have to “take away the middle years of my life”, but asked for his twilight years: “Leave me a little light at the end of the tunnel.” Parole was ruled out after the verdict, but thanks to Trump, he will now be released after all.
With the pardon, the new US president is fulfilling a campaign promise. Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road as “Dread Pirate Roberts”, enjoys enormous popularity in crypto industry circles because his trading platform was one of the first to demonstrate the practicality of using the digital currency Bitcoin in trade –, albeit primarily for illegal transactions. Before his re-election, Trump sought support from the industry and received considerable campaign donations from it in return. Supporters of the prisoner had called for his pardon under the slogan “Free Ross”.
(mho)
