Who is Ross Ulbricht? All about Silk Road online drug kingpin with Princess Bride nickname pardoned by Trump
Donald Trump took a victory lap over the weekend celebrating his January pardon of Ross Ulbricht, founder of the “Silk Road” dark web drug marketplace, who had been serving a double life sentence in federal prison.
The president reposted messages on Truth Social calling Ulbricht’s case “one of the most corrupt, unjust prosecutions in modern history,” and claiming Trump knew it was a “frame-up job by the same people who hated him.”
Last week, Ulbricht weighed in about the pardon, sharing a photo on X of himself and his wife, saying the reprieve showed “our prayers [were] finally answered.”
Ulbricht’s pardon is the latest chapter in a long-running legal saga, rife with allegations of corruption, attempted murder-for-hire, and online criminality.
How did Trump, who called on the campaign trail for using the death penalty against drug dealers, end up pardoning an online drug kingpin?
Here’s what you need to know:
Who is Ross Ulbricht and what was he convicted of?
Ulbricht, an Eagle Scout from Austin, Texas, using the online pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” a reference to 1987 film The Princess Bride, set up the Silk Road online marketplace on the non-public “dark web” in 2011, where customers could use cryptocurrencies to buy everything from illegal drugs to hacking services.
The site, which ran until authorities shut it down in 2013, were believed linked to more than $200 million in drug deals, and at least six deaths from drugs purchased on the platform, according to federal officials.
In 2015, after undercover agents made more than 60 purchases of illegal drugs on the site, Ulbricht was given two life sentences without the possibility of parole on a variety of charges, including drug distribution and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people,” then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said of the conviction.
Why do people criticize the case against Ross Ulbricht?
Ulbricht, even before his pardon, was a cause célèbre in certain corners of the political right, the cryptocurrency world, and the libertarian movement, all of whom argued Ulbricht was unfairly prosecuted.
As evidence, they pointed to the fact that two of the federal agents working on the case against Ulbricht eventually pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency from Silk Road.
