Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.
President Donald Trump has granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road online black market.
Some shit you should know: Silk Road was an underground online marketplace launched in 2011 that operated on the dark web, enabling users to anonymously buy and sell illegal goods and services, primarily drugs, using Bitcoin. At the time, the Department of Justice accused Ross Ulbricht, its founder, of running a massive criminal enterprise that facilitated over $200 million in illegal transactions, contributed to multiple drug overdose deaths, and included services like hacking, forgeries, and identity theft. Prosecutors claimed Ulbricht, operating under the alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,” oversaw every aspect of the site, including soliciting murders-for-hire to protect his enterprise, though no evidence of completed killings was presented. Ulbricht, in his defense, admitted to creating Silk Road but denied orchestrating or intending many of the crimes committed through the platform, portraying himself as a libertarian idealist promoting free markets.
What’s going on now: In a late-night announcement, President Trump revealed he had granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road online marketplace, fulfilling a campaign promise made to Libertarian supporters. In a statement, Trump said he had called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her of the pardon and describing the sentence as “ridiculous.” He criticized the prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, labeling them as “scum[s]” and accusing them of being the same individuals responsible for what he called the “modern-day weaponization of government” against him.
Trump framed the pardon as an effort to correct what he viewed as an excessive punishment for a nonviolent crime, noting that Ulbricht had been sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years for running the website. He argued that the sentencing was politically motivated and far harsher than necessary.
Attached is Trumps full statement: “I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross. The scum 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!”
