Trump Gives Full Pardon to ‘Silk Road’ Founder Ross Ulbricht

President Trump signed a full pardon Tuesday evening for the founder of the dark web marketplace, Silk Road, which facilitated, among other things, the sale of narcotics using cryptocurrency, Ross Ulbricht.The chairwoman of the Libertarian Party, Angela McArdle, tells The New York Sun a senior staffer in the Trump administration reached out to her at 6:30 p.m. to confirm the pardon is signed. Mr. Ulbricht is expected to be released in about 24 hours.“Trump staff reached out to me and said, it’s done,” Ms. McArdle tells the Sun.Trump first promised to “free Ross” at the Libertarian Party’s convention in May. “If you vote for me, on Day One, we will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht,” Mr. Trump said to a standing ovation. “We will get him home.”Yet as Day One came to a close with no commutation from the president, libertarians, cryptocurrency bros, and even Senator Paul started pressing the president to act. Mr. Paul sent a letter to Trump urging him to commute Mr. Ulbricht’s sentence. Mr. Trump instead went even further and gave Mr. Ulbricht a full pardon.“I just called the mother of Ross Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it is my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional; pardon of her son, Ross,” Mr. Trump posted to Truth Social. “I asked for a pardon. and they graciously said, yes,” Ms. McArdle says.Mr. Ulbcicht, age 40, was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole since his conviction in 2015 on seven counts of distributing narcotics and money laundering conspiracy charges. He has been in prison for more than 11 years, since his arrest in 2013.Securing Mr. Ulbricht’s freedom became a cause celebre for libertarians, cryptocurrency advocates, and drug reformers, in large part because of the tireless efforts of Mr. Ulbricht’s mother, Lyn Ulbricht. She traveled to libertarian and Bitcoin events for years rallying supporters to help her son.“Donald Trump pledged to commute my sentence on day 1, if reelected. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” Mr. Ulbricht posted to X in May. “After 11 years in prison, it is hard to express how I feel at this moment. It is thanks to your undying support that I may get a second chance.”Mr. Ulbricht’s case was one of the first Bitcoin-related prosecutions, and the judge noted the “unprecedented” nature of the prosecution in her sentencing. “The stated purpose [of the Silk Road] was to be beyond the law. In the world you created over time, democracy didn’t exist. You were captain of the ship, the Dread Pirate Roberts,” Judge Katherine Forrest said, using Mr. Ulbricht’s online handle.“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,” the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, said in a statement at the time of the sentencing.Yet a life sentence for narcotics sales — Mr. Ulbricht provided the online platform and not the drugs themselves — was unusually steep. An Eagle scout, Mr. Ulbricht had no prior criminal record and by all accounts has been a model prisoner. His goal in creating the site was not to facilitate drug sales but was an experiment in free markets and cryptocurrency exchange.After Mr. Trump’s promise at their convention, several prominent Libertarians broke with their party and endorsed Mr. Trump. Ms. McArdle, has taken heat for meeting with Mr. Trump and employing what she calls a “kingmaker strategy” to work with Republicans. That Mr. Trump followed through with his promise is also a victory for her.“This is the largest impact the Libertarian Party has ever had at the federal level,” Ms. McArdle says. “This is my victory lap.”

Trump Gives Full Pardon to ‘Silk Road’ Founder Ross Ulbricht

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