Skip to main content
U.S.

Trump pardons Silk Road founder ‘in honor of Libertarian Movement’

Listen
Share

President Donald Trump followed through on another campaign promise Tuesday, Jan. 21, when he pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. The 40-year-old was serving two life sentences plus 40 years without parole for his ties to the infamous dark web marketplace.

In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump said he spoke with Ulbricht’s mother and told her that her son’s full and unconditional pardon was “in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly.”

Trump added, “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.”

QR code for SAN app download

Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.

Point phone camera here

In his 2015 conviction, the court held Ulbricht liable for $183 million in sales of illegal drugs –– including heroin, cocaine and opioids –– as well as counterfeit IDs that occurred on his site.

The move comes shortly after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote a letter to Trump asking him to pardon Ulbricht.

“Our criminal justice system should protect society from violent lawbreakers instead of filling our prisons with nonviolent offenders like Mr. Ulbricht,” Paul wrote.

The pardon also realizes a promise Trump made while speaking to the Libertarian National Convention last May, when he pledged to commute Ulbricht’s sentence on his first day in office.

Silk Road was an early adopter of Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency advocates, as well as libertarian political voices such as Paul, have been vocal in pushing for a pardon for Ulbricht.

President Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection on Inauguration Day. Ulbricht’s pardon came on Trump’s second day in office.

Tags: , , ,

Lauren Taylor:

On his second day in office, President Donald Trump got to another of his “day one” promises, pardoning Ross Ulbricht, founder and operator of the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

The 40-year-old Ulbricht was serving two life sentences plus 40 years without parole for his ties to the site. In his 2015 conviction, the court held Ulbricht liable for $183 million in sales of illegal drugs and counterfeit IDs that occurred on his site.

Drugs available on the site included heroin, cocaine and opioids.

Silk Road was an early adopter of Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency advocates, as well as libertarian political voices including Sen. Rand Paul, have been vocal in pushing for a pardon for Ulbricht.

Paul wrote a letter to President Trump asking him to pardon Silk Road’s creator Ross Ulbricht. 

“Our criminal justice system should protect society from violent lawbreakers instead of filling our prisons with nonviolent offenders like Mr. Ulbricht,” Paul wrote.

President Trump is all of one day late to the promise he made when speaking to the Libertarian National Convention last May.

TRUMP: If you vote for me, on day one, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served.

President Trump has been on a major pardoning spree since taking office Monday. Hours after taking office, he also pardoned more than 1,500 people charged for their roles in the January 6th insurrection.