Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht, dark web marketplace creator : NPR

President Trump made good on a campaign promise to libertarian supporters on his second day back in office, the former creator and owner of an underground e-commerce website known for drug trafficking.

Ross Ulbricht, also known as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” ran an anonymous digital marketplace known as Silk Road between 2011 and 2013, when law enforcement shut down the site and Arrested at the California Public Library.

“I just called Ross William Albrecht’s mother to tell her that in honor of her and the libertarian movement that has supported me so strongly, it is my pleasure to honor her son, Ross. Signed a full and unconditional pardon,” Trump posted on his truth social site on Tuesday. “The scum that got him convicted were some of the same lunatics who were involved in modernizing the government against me. He got two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”

At the time of his sentencing in San Francisco in 2015, Albrecht was 31 years old. He was convicted of drug distribution, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit counterfeiting and money laundering. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department pursued charges against Albrecht’s compatriots who claimed to have committed five murders on his behalf, although the government was never able to prove that the murders actually took place.

In an indictment, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara described the Silk Road as a meeting place for criminals who “buy and sell illegal drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement.” Hope so.”

He also described it as “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet” at the time. He alleged that Albrecht made tens of millions of dollars through the site. Law enforcement went to great lengths to investigate and arrest Albrecht and his supporters, including infiltrating the site and seizing a server in Iceland.

Albrecht’s early writings on the ideas behind the Silk Road emphasized his desire to create a free and anonymous marketplace, to “use economic theory as a means to eliminate the use of coercion and aggression among mankind.” can go.” According to a public LinkedIn post. To access the site, users had to use an anonymity software called Tor and pay with bitcoin, a cryptocurrency whose transactions are recorded online.

Those principles are associated with libertarian political philosophy, which generally advocates the protection of individual liberties.

Libertarian activists have supported Albrecht’s release for years, organizing around the banner of “Free Ross” and painting Albrecht as a young, “peaceful” former Eagle Scout who had “dangerous kingpins.” Instead of making mistakes. According to his supporters’ webpage. They say his life sentence is an example of government overreach.

President Trump has been amenable to the concerns of libertarians. He pledged to commute Albrecht’s sentence during the Libertarian National Convention in Washington in May 2024, and has reached out to so-called “technolibertarians” like Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Trump has also publicly promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” supporting prominent Bitcoin users and supporters.

Ulbricht, for his part, took to social media to celebrate Trump’s election victory and remind him of his promise. A week after the election, he wrote to X that he could “finally see the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel.”