President Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online black market Silk Road. Ulbricht, now 40, was arrested in a public library in San Francisco in 2013 and subsequently sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years without the possibility of early release in 2015.
It is worth noting that Ulbricht is believed to have operated the Silk Road, a darknet marketplace that primarily dealt in illegal drugs but also weapons, from at least 2011 to 2013.
In a statement, Trump announced that he had called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her of the pardon, citing the “libertarian movement that has supported me so strongly” as the reason for the decision. Trump also expressed his disdain for those who worked to secure Ulbricht’s conviction, stating that they were the “same crazies” who were involved in the “modern-day persecution of me by the government.” He described the original sentence as “ludicrous.”
It is unclear what specifically led Trump to this assessment, as he did not provide further information. Notably, Trump was not president at the time of Ulbricht’s original sentencing, having taken office in 2017, while Ulbricht was already incarcerated.