Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht

US President Donald Trump fulfilled his promise and pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the infamous darknet market Silk Road, who was serving a life sentence. Ross Ulbricht, convicted in 2015 of founding and operating the Silk Road platform.

• The president announced this on the Truth Social social network, noting that he did it out of respect for Ulbricht’s mother and as a sign of support for the libertarian movement. Ulbricht received a life sentence for drug trafficking, money laundering and hacking.
• Silk Road became the first large-scale darknet marketplace for selling drugs, forged documents, and other illegal goods using Bitcoin. Trump called Ulbricht’s sentence “absurd” and, in his opinion, blamed the investigators involved in the prosecution. He operated on the dark web from 2011 to 2013 and became a platform for the sale of illegal goods worth more than $200 million.

Claims of disproportionately harsh sentences, including double life imprisonment, made the Free Ross campaign popular. Ross Ulbricht’s pardon highlights differences in approaches to cybercrime and justice. This case continues to cause debate in society.