Trump pardons imprisoned Silk Road founder Ulbricht for online drug scheme
US president makes good on a campaign pledge to free the mastermind behind the illicit drug marketplace Silk Road
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted over US$200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.
The Republican president made good on a campaign pledge to free Ulbricht, 40, who was arrested in 2013 and sentenced in 2015 in what became a landmark US prosecution launched only a few years after the emergence of the popular cryptocurrency.
“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 in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump said the pardon was “full and unconditional”. He said he called Ulbricht’s mother to break the news to her on Tuesday. Ulbricht has been imprisoned at a federal prison in Arizona and it was unclear when he would be released.
“After enduring over a decade of incarceration, this decision offers Ross the opportunity to begin anew, to rebuild his life, and to contribute positively to society,” Brandon Sample, Ulbricht’s clemency lawyer, said in a statement.
