Ross William Ulbricht: Trump says he pardoned founder of criminal marketplace Silk Road

CNN
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President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he had granted a pardon to Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road Dark Web Marketplace.

Ulbricht, who was accused of creating the shadowy e-commerce site that the Justice Department had described as “the most sophisticated and comprehensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today,” had been serving a life sentence on charges related to the operation.

“I just called Ross William Ulbricht’s mother to tell her that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement that supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon for her son, Ross. ” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump called Ulbricht’s sentence “ridiculous” and claimed it was disproportionate to the crime. He went on to express frustration with the legal entities involved in Ulbricht’s conviction, referring to them as “scum” and accusing them of being among the same individuals responsible for “government weaponization” against him during his tenure.

The The FBI shut down Silk Road in October 2013 and arrested Ulbricht after he allegedly posted his email address online. He was found guilty in February 2015 on a variety of charges including money laundering, drug trafficking and computer hacking.

Trump’s clemency fulfills a campaign promise. In May 2024, in remarks to the Libertarian Party National Convention in Washington, DC, Trump promised to reverse Ulbricht’s sentence immediately after taking office.

“If you vote for me, on Day 1 I will commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence to time served,” Trump said at the time. “He has already served 11 years. We will get him home.”

Libertarian National Committee Chairwoman Angela McArdle celebrated the announcement Tuesday, calling Ulbricht “a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade.”

“I am proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and it has finally paid off,” McArdle said in a statement that also thanked Trump for following through on his promise.

The government had claimed that Ulbricht, who assumed the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” a nod to the fictional character in the movie “The Princess Bride,” founded the site in 2011. The now-defunct marketplace allowed users to anonymously trade drugs and other illegal goods and services in near total secrecy using bitcoin. According to the indictment, Silk Road acquired nearly one million registered users worldwide, about 30% of whom were based in the United States.

Ulbricht had been convicted after a four-week jury trial. Preet Bharara, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said then that “Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people.”

“Ulbricht went from hiding his cybercrime identity to becoming the face of cybercrime, and as today’s sentence shows, no one is above the law,” Bharara said.

The Southern District of New York declined to comment on the pardon. Bharara also declined to comment.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kara Scannell and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.