Ross Ulbricht’s prison letter sparks tears after Trump pardon

Kentucky Congressional Representative Thomas Massie attended Tim Pool’s Timcast IRL podcast to share a letter written to him by the now-pardoned Ross Ulbricht that moved him to tears.

As he read the letter — written while the Silk Road website operator was in prison — to Pool’s co-hosts Ian Crossland and Josie Glabach, Glabach also began to cry.

Why it matters

During his first day in office, President Donald Trump pardoned Capitol rioters and Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison.

Before his pardon, Ross was also a convicted drug dealer. Pardoning him counters Trump’s earlier claims that drug dealers should face the death penalty.

What to know

Before his Trump pardon, Ulbricht had been sentenced to two life sentences plus an additional 40 years for creating and operating Silk Road.

This was a dark site that according to the Ministry of Justicefacilitated the distribution of “hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illegal goods and services to more than 100,000 buyers, and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars resulting from these illegal transactions.” Silk Road was also linked to six overdose deaths around the world from drugs purchased on site.

Ulbricht gained a significant following in libertarian circles from people who believed he was the target of government abuse. Several petitions to have him released were circulated while he was in prison, including one that gathered over 600,000 signatures.

In his Truth Social announcement about Ulbricht’s pardon, President Trump said he took this action to honor “the liberal movement that supported me so strongly.”

On Timcast IRL, Massie read Ulbricht’s letter thanking him for being a constant and powerful voice for his campaign for freedom. Massie also emphasized that Ulbricht’s pardon is an example of how elections matter, since without Trump he would have “rotted in jail.”

Massie, who said he believed Ulbricht was subject to “a ridiculous over-punishment, regardless of guilt or not,” told the podcast hosts that Ulbricht was actually ready to settle for a sentencing hearing, but Trump granted him a full pardon.

The congressional representative said he believes Ulbricht was charged because the government wanted to make “an example out of him because they didn’t want people using Bitcoin.”

The DOJ found Ulbricht “controlled and supervised all aspects of Silk Road and managed a staff of paid, online administrators and computer programmers who assisted in the day-to-day operation of the site.” He is said to have earned more than $13 million in commissions generated from illegal sales made on Silk Road and that he “demonstrated a willingness to use violence to protect his criminal enterprise and the anonymity of its users, requesting six murder- for-hire in connection with the operation of the place, although there is no evidence that these murders were actually carried out.”

What people say

At the time of sentencing, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Make no mistake: 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 proves, no one has been raised. above the law.”

President Trump said: “The scum working to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern weaponization of the government against me. He got two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”

Ross Ulbricht said in his letter to Massie: “As I await my new life and freedom, I just want to acknowledge and thank you for your part in bringing about this wonderful outcome…my impending release is as much a victory for you as it is for me and my family.”

Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian National Committee, said: “Ross Ulbricht has been 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.”

What happens next

Ulbricht is now free from prison and has had his criminal record expunged. It is currently unknown where he will go next.

President Trump has embraced Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies so that his Justice Department can handle fewer cases cracking down on the use of Bitcoin.