Silk Street founder thanks US president for ‘wonderful blessing’ in video message after his launch from jail.
Ross Ulbricht, the dark-web market founder pardoned by United States President Donald Trump, has spoken about his launch from jail for the primary time.
Ulbricht, 40, was sentenced to 2 life sentences, plus 40 years, in 2015 for operating Silk Street, a bootleg on-line market that US prosecutors mentioned facilitated $183m in drug gross sales utilizing Bitcoin.
Trump on Tuesday issued Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon, fulfilling a marketing campaign promise to libertarians and cryptocurrency fans who had lobbied for his launch.
In a video message posted on X on Friday, Ulbricht expressed his gratitude to Trump for granting him clemency.
“I used to be doing life with out parole, and I used to be locked up for greater than 11 years however he let me out. I’m a free man now. So let it’s recognized that Donald Trump is a person of his phrase,” he mentioned.
“Thanks a lot, President Trump, for giving me this wonderful blessing. I’m so, so grateful to have my life again, to have my future again, to have a second probability.”
Ulbricht mentioned he deliberate to spend time along with his household however would have extra to say sooner or later.
“This can be a victory and it’s your victory, too. And this is a crucial second for everyone, in all places who loves freedom and who cares about second probabilities,” he mentioned.
“It feels wonderful to be free, to say the least. It’s overwhelming.”
— Ross Ulbricht (@RealRossU) January 24, 2025
Ulbricht’s case had been held up for example of presidency overreach by libertarians and crypto supporters, who argued that he had been unfairly prosecuted for transactions made by different individuals and that his punishment didn’t match the crime.
Ulbricht’s attorneys additionally argued that though he had created the location, he handed off management to others after only a few months and had been lured again as a fall man simply as authorities have been closing in.
Asserting his pardon, Trump branded Ulbricht’s punishment “ridiculous” and mentioned these accountable for his prosecution have been a few of the “identical lunatics who have been concerned within the modern-day weaponisation of presidency in opposition to me”.
US prosecutors solid Ulbricht as a prison mastermind pushed by a need for cash and energy, and alleged that medication offered on his website had triggered the deaths of six individuals.
Prosecutors additionally alleged that Ulbricht had solicited the murders of individuals he considered as threats to his operation, although he was not convicted of any such crime and no proof was offered that anybody had really been killed.
Whereas some Republicans recognized for espousing libertarian views hailed Trump’s pardon, the transfer drew condemnation from quite a few Democratic legislators.
“Pardoning drug trafficking kingpins is a slap within the face to the households who’ve misplaced family members to his crimes,” Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto mentioned in a put up on X.
“Donald Trump ought to have to clarify to them how any of this makes America safer. It’s an outrage.”
