US President, Donald Trump has granted an unconditional pardon to the creator of the notorious dark web page Silk Road in honor of the ‘Libertarian Movement.’
Ross Ulbricht, 40, was arrested in 2013 because the dark website he founded facilitated the sale of illicit drugs using cryptocurrency.
In 2015, he was sentenced to two life terms in prison plus 40 years for drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit money laundering and computer hacking, operating under the pseudonym ‘Dread Pirate Roberts.’
‘Make no mistake: Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people,’ Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said upon Ulbricht’s sentencing.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to commute Ulbricht’s sentence ‘on day one’ if he were re-elected, and garnered enormous support from the convicted criminal’s loved ones and fans.
And while Ulbricht’s clemency was not one of the many tasks Trump completed on Monday, the President revealed on Tuesday evening that Ulbricht had been granted a ‘full and unconditional pardon.’
‘I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright (sic) to let her know that in honour 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 revealed on TruthSocial.
‘The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me.
‘He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!’
Prosecutors had described Silk Road as an unprecedented one-stop online shopping mall where the supply of drugs was virtually limitless.
At his 2015 sentencing, the judge cited six deaths from drugs bought on Ulbricht’s site and five people he tried to have killed. Ulbricht said at the time that he was a changed man.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ulbricht’s clemency lawyer said he maintained hope Trump would deliver on his promise to commute the sentence.
‘We do expect President Trump to grant clemency. The president, when a candidate, said that he would release Ross on his first day in office,’ he said.
‘We have no doubt the president will follow through on his commitment to release Ross. Ross, his family, and all his supporters are forever grateful to President Trump for his willingness to show mercy to Ross.’
