Trump says he pardoned founder of Silk Road criminal marketplace

(CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had granted a pardon to Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace.

Ulbricht, who was accused of creating the shadowy e-commerce site the Justice Department had described as “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today,” had been serving a life sentence on charges related to the operation.

“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump called Ulbricht’s sentence “ridiculous,” claiming it was disproportionate to the crime. He went on to express frustration with the legal figures involved in Ulbricht’s conviction, referring to them as “scum” and accusing them of being among the same individuals responsible for the “weaponization of government” against him during his time in office.

The FBI shut down Silk Road in October 2013 and arrested Ulbricht after he allegedly posted his email address online. He was found guilty in February 2015 on a variety of charges including money laundering, drug trafficking and computer hacking.

Trump’s act of clemency makes good on a campaign promise. In May 2024, Trump pledged in remarks to the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, DC, to commute Ulbricht’s sentence immediately upon taking office.

“If you vote for me, on Day 1 I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served,” Trump said at the time. “He’s already served 11 years. We’re going to get him home.”

Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle celebrated the announcement Tuesday, calling Ulbricht “a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade.”

“I’m proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and that has finally paid off,” McArdle said in a statement that also thanked Trump for following through on his vow.

The government had alleged that Ulbricht, who donned the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” a nod to the fictitious character in the film “The Princess Bride,” founded the site in 2011. The now-defunct marketplace allowed users to anonymously trade drugs and other illegal goods and services in near-total secrecy using bitcoin. According to the indictment, Silk Road acquired nearly a million registered users worldwide, about 30% of whom were based in the US.

Ulbricht had been convicted following a four-week jury trial. Preet Bharara, then the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at the time that “Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people.”

“Ulbricht went from hiding his cybercrime identity to becoming the face of cybercrime and as today’s sentence proves, no one is above the law,” Bharara said.

The Southern District of New York declined to comment on the pardon. Bharara also declined to comment.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kara Scannell and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.

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