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On January 22, the BBC reported that President Donald Trump granted a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who was convicted in 2015 for operating the Silk Road dark web marketplace. Trump announced the pardon on Truth Social and informed Ulbricht's mother.
Donald Trump took to his social media app, Truth Social, on January 21 to say that he was pardoning Ross Ulbricht in honor of the “Libertarian Movement.” Trump said:
“It was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross. The sc*m that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
The Libertarian Party had been advocating for Ross Ulbricht’s release. Back in May, Trump had announced his plans to commute Ulbricht’s sentence while speaking at the Libertarian national convention.
Silk Road shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ross Ulbricht, who was selling illegal drugs using Bitcoin. As per the BBC, Ross Ulbricht was also caught with hacking equipment and stolen passports at the time of his arrest.
Ross Ulbricht faced charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking. He was sentenced to life in prison.
More about Silk Road as Donald Trump announces that he is pardoning Ross Ulbricht
The name of the Silk Road website originated from the historic trade routes spanning Europe, Asia, and Africa. Users could access the dark website only through Tor, a system that allows people to access platforms without revealing their identity or location.
As per the FBI, the site had just under a million registered users, but investigators announced that they were unaware of how many users were active.
As per Reuters, Ross Ulbricht ran Silk Road through the alias of Dread Pirate Roberts, which was a character from the 1987 movie The Princess Bride. Reuters reported that Ulbricht, who reportedly had two college degrees, solicited the murder of several people.
When discussing why he created Silk Road, Ulbricht said during his May 2015 sentencing:
“I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity.”
Ulbricht collected $18 million in commission while operating the Silk Road website, as per The Guardian. He reportedly brokered deals for over 1 million drugs that were worth over $183 million.
As per The Guardian, Ross Ulbricht was imprisoned at a federal prison in Arizona. Exact information regarding when Ulbricht would be released remains unknown.
Ulbricht’s lawyer, Joshua Dratel, said in a statement to The Guardian that he was “extremely gratified that an injustice has been corrected,” while referring to the former being pardoned. Dratel went on to add that the pardon ensured that the convict could:
“Have a life ahead of him to be the productive person he could have been all these years.”
After taking office, Donald Trump significantly reversed multiple legislations that were passed out by the Biden Administration.
