Ulbricht was given two life sentences, plus 40 years for running the site, which allegedly facilitated $183m in drug sales.
Published On 22 Jan 2025
United States President Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the imprisoned founder of the dark-web black market Silk Road.
Trump said on Tuesday that he had called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her he had signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for her son, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015 for his role in operating the illicit marketplace.
“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 on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
Ulbricht, 40, was convicted of seven counts related to his operation of Silk Road, which facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and other illicit goods using Bitcoin, including distributing narcotics and engaging in a criminal enterprise.
US prosecutors alleged that the site had been used to facilitate more than 1.5 million transactions worth approximately $213m, including more than $183m in drug sales.
Prosecutors also alleged that Ulbricht had solicited the murders of people he viewed as threats to his enterprise, though he was not charged over the alleged murder-for-hire plots and no evidence was pre