President Donald Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for money laundering, drug trafficking and computer hacking. “I just called Ross William Wolbright’s mother (sic) and in honor of her and the libertarian movement that has strongly supported me, I would like to express my condolences to her son’s full and unconditional I told you I was happy to sign the pardon, Ross,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Ulbricht has been serving a life sentence since 2015. Prosecutors say the dark web market created by Ulbricht was used by “thousands of drug dealers and other illegal operators to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to well over 100 people. “I was using it for,” he claimed. It targets thousands of buyers and aims to launder hundreds of millions of dollars earned from these illegal transactions. ” Ulbricht was also charged with attempting to order the assassinations of people he considered enemies, but prosecutors said there was “no evidence that these murders were actually carried out.”
Ulbricht’s suspended sentence comes after he unsuccessfully tried to appeal his sentence in 2017. Many crypto enthusiasts supported Trump in the 2024 election, but have long argued that his sentence was too harsh. Trump said during the campaign that he would commute Ulbricht’s sentence “on day one” if he was re-elected.
