Ross Ulbricht Explained

Ross Ulbricht
Birth Name:Ross William Ulbricht
Birth Date:March 27, 1984[1]
Birth Place:Austin, Texas, U.S.
Other Names:Silk Road Admin, SR Admin, Dread Pirate Roberts, DPR, Frosty, Altoid
Alma Mater:University of Texas at Dallas (BS)
Pennsylvania State University (MS)
Occupation:Darknet market operator
Years Active:February 2011 – October 2013
Known For:Creator of Silk Road
Conviction:
Conviction Penalty:Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus $183,961,921 fine (May 29, 2015)
Apprehended:October 1, 2013
Imprisoned:United States Penitentiary, Tucson[3]

Ross William Ulbricht (born March 27, 1984) is an American serving life imprisonment for creating and operating the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013.[4] The site operated as a hidden service on the Tor network and facilitated the sale of narcotics and other illegal products and services. Ulbricht ran the site under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts", after the fictional character from The Princess Bride.

In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Ulbricht and took Silk Road offline. In 2015, he was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents and conspiracy to commit computer hacking.[5] [6] He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht's appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2017 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 were unsuccessful.[7] [8] [9] He is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson.[10]

Early life and education

Ulbricht grew up in Austin, Texas. He was a Boy Scout,[11] attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.[12] He attended West Ridge Middle School[13] and Westlake High School both in the Eanes Independent School District in the suburbs of Austin, graduating from high school in 2002.[14]

Ulbricht attended the University of Texas at Dallas on a full academic scholarship[12] and graduated in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in physics.[14] Ulbricht received an additional scholarship to attend Pennsylvania State University, where he was in a master's degree program in materials science and engineering and studied crystallography.[13] By the time Ulbricht graduated, he had become interested in libertarian economic theory and adhered to the political philosophy of Ludwig von Mises, supported Ron Paul, promoted agorism and participated in college debates to discuss his economic views.[13] [15] [16] Ulbricht graduated from Penn State in 2009 and returned to Austin. He tried day trading and started a video game company but both ventures failed.[13] He eventually partnered with his friend Donny Palmertree to help build an online used book seller, Good Wagon Books.[13]

Silk Road

Creation and operation of Silk Road

Palmertree, cofounder of Good Wagon Books, eventually moved to Dallas, leaving Ulbricht to run the bookseller by himself. Around this time, Ulbricht began planning Silk Road (initially called Underground Brokers).[17] In his personal diary, he outlined his idea for a website "where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them."[17] Ulbricht's ex-girlfriend said, "I remember when he had the idea ... He said something about ... the Silk Road in Asia ... and what a big network it was ... And that's what he wanted to create, so he thought it was the perfect name."[18] Ulbricht alluded to Silk Road on his public LinkedIn page, where he discussed his wish to "use economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion and aggression amongst mankind" and claimed, "I am creating an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force."[15]

Silk Road ran as an onion service on the Tor network, which implements data encryption and routes traffic through intermediary servers to anonymize the source and destination Internet Protocol addresses. By hosting his market as a Tor site, Ulbricht could conceal the server's IP address and thus its location.[19] [20] Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, was used for transactions on the site. While all bitcoin transactions were recorded in a public ledger called the blockchain, users who avoided linking their legal names to their cryptocurrency wallets were able to conduct transactions with considerable anonymity.[21] [22] Ulbricht used the "Dread Pirate Roberts" username for Silk Road, although it is disputed whether only he used that account.[23] [24] He attributed his inspiration for creating the Silk Road marketplace to the novel Alongside Night and the works of Samuel Edward Konkin III.[16]

Arrest

Law enforcement broke Silk Road's cover in a number of ways. A drug agency investigator infiltrated the site and became an admin, thereby gaining inside information about the site operations, and finding Ulbricht's chats showed Pacific time, narrowing down his likely location.[25] Law enforcement seized a Silk Road server in Iceland[26] [27] and gained a trove of chat logs, further enriching their knowledge.[28] Ulbricht was connected to "Dread Pirate Roberts" by Gary Alford, an Internal Revenue Service investigator working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on the Silk Road case, in mid-2013.[29] [30] The connection was made by linking the username "altoid", used during Silk Road's early days to announce the website, and a forum post in which Ulbricht, posting under the nickname "altoid", asked for programming help and gave his email address, which contained his full name.[29] On October 1, 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Ulbricht at the Glen Park branch of the San Francisco Public Library and accused him of being the "mastermind" behind the site.[31] [32] [33]

To prevent Ulbricht from encrypting or deleting files on the laptop he was using to run the site as he was arrested, two agents pretended to be quarreling lovers. When they had sufficiently distracted him,[34] according to Joshuah Bearman of Wired, they quickly moved in to arrest him while a third agent grabbed the laptop and handed it to agent Thomas Kiernan.[35] Kiernan then inserted a flash drive into one of the laptop's USB ports, with software that copied key files.[34]

Ulbricht was ordered held without bail.

Trial

On February 4, 2014, Ulbricht was charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, narcotics conspiracy, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking.[36] On August 21, 2014, a superseding indictment added three additional charges.[37] On February 4, 2015, Ulbricht was convicted on all counts after a jury trial that had taken place in January 2015.[38] On May 29, 2015, he was sentenced to double life imprisonment plus 40 years, without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht was also ordered to pay about $183 million in restitution, based on the total sales of illegal drugs and counterfeit IDs through Silk Road.[39] [40] [41]

Murder-for-hire allegations

Federal prosecutors alleged that Ulbricht had paid $730,000 in murder-for-hire deals targeting at least five people, allegedly because they threatened to reveal the Silk Road enterprise.[42] [43] Prosecutors believe no contracted killing actually occurred. Ulbricht was not charged in his trial in New York federal court with murder for hire[44] but evidence was introduced at trial supporting the allegations.[45] The district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ulbricht did commission the murders.[46] The evidence that Ulbricht had commissioned murders was considered by the judge in sentencing Ulbricht to life and was a factor in the Second Circuit's decision to uphold the sentence.

Ulbricht was separately indicted in federal court in Maryland on a single murder-for-hire charge, alleging that he contracted to kill one of his employees (a former Silk Road moderator).[47] Prosecutors moved to drop this indictment after his New York conviction and sentence became final.[48] [49]

Attempts to reverse the trial outcome

Appeal

Ulbricht appealed his conviction and sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in January 2016, claiming that the prosecution illegally withheld evidence of DEA agents' malfeasance in the investigation of Silk Road, of which two agents were convicted.[50] Ulbricht also argued his sentence was too harsh.[51] Oral arguments were heard in October 2016,[52] [45] [53] and the Second Circuit issued its decision in May 2017, upholding Ulbricht's conviction and sentence in an opinion by Judge Gerard E. Lynch.[45] In a 139-page opinion,[45] [54] the court affirmed the district court's denial of Ulbricht's motion to suppress certain evidence, affirmed the district court's decisions on discovery and the admission of expert testimony, and rejected Ulbricht's argument that a life sentence was procedurally or substantively unreasonable.[45] [53]

In December 2017, Ulbricht filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to hear his appeal on evidentiary and sentencing issues.[55] [56] Ulbricht's petition asked whether the warrantless seizure of an individual's internet traffic information, without probable cause, violated the Fourth Amendment, and whether the Sixth Amendment permits judges to find facts necessary to support an otherwise unreasonable sentence.[57] Twenty-one amici filed five amicus curiae briefs in support of Ulbricht, including the National Lawyers Guild, American Black Cross, Reason Foundation, Drug Policy Alliance, and Downsize DC Foundation. The U.S. government filed a response in opposition to Ulbricht's petition.[58] [59] On June 28, 2018, the Supreme Court denied the petition, declining to consider Ulbricht's appeal.[60]

Plea deal

In a 2020 Vanity Fair article, Nick Bilton claimed that Ulbricht had rejected a plea deal that would have potentially given Ulbricht a decade-long sentence. Bilton writes "According to more than a dozen investigators and attorneys involved in the case who I spoke to for the book, Ulbricht’s sentence could have been a lot less severe..."[61] Assistant US Attorney Timothy Howard, who was co-responsible for prosecuting the case, testified that "...no such plea offer was ever extended to Ross William Ulbricht, or conveyed to his then-counsel..." before Ulbricht's indictment. Howard stated that a plea deal with a mandatory minimum of 10 years was, "...discussed at the final pretrial conference on December 17, 2014...", but that the maximum sentence of life imprisonment was strongly recommended based on the sentencing guideline.[62]

After the conviction

Incarceration

During his trial, Ulbricht was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York.[63] Starting in July 2017, he was held at USP Florence High. His mother, Lyn, moved to Colorado so she could visit him regularly.[64] Ulbricht has since been transferred to USP Tucson.[65]

Restitution paid from seized assets

In 2021, Ulbricht's prosecutors and defense agreed that Ulbricht would relinquish any ownership of a newly discovered fund of 50,676 Bitcoin (worth nearly $3.4 billion in 2021) seized from a hacker in November 2021.[66] The Bitcoin had been stolen from Silk Road in 2013 and Ulbricht had been unsuccessful in getting them back. The U.S. government traced and seized the stolen Bitcoin. Ulbricht and the government agreed the fund would be used to pay off Ulbricht's $183 million debt in his criminal case, while the Department of Justice would take custody of the Bitcoin.[67] [68]

Documentaries and films

Deep Web is a 2015 documentary film chronicling events surrounding Silk Road, bitcoin, and the politics of the dark web, including Ulbricht's trial. Silk Road—Drugs, Death and the Dark Web is a documentary covering the FBI operation to track down Ulbricht and close Silk Road. The documentary was shown on UK television in 2017 in the BBC Storyville documentary series.[69]

The film Silk Road was released on February 19, 2021. Directed by Tiller Russell, it follows Ulbricht's creation of the website and the FBI and DEA investigations. Ulbricht is portrayed by American actor Nick Robinson.[70]

NFT sale

Ulbricht's family raised money for efforts to release him from prison via the decentralized autonomous organization FreeRossDAO, which accepted donations from the public. In December 2021, the family auctioned a collection of his writings and artwork as an NFT, which FreeRossDAO bought for 1,442 Ethereum, worth about $6.27 million at the time.[71] [72]

Calls for commutation

In May 2022, Congressman Thomas Massie called for a commutation of Ulbricht's conviction.[73] The libertarian-oriented Reason Foundation attempted to raise funds, citing Ulbricht's case[74] without taking any legal action, and 2020 Libertarian United States presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen made a campaign pledge to pardon Ulbricht.[75] In May 2024, candidate Donald Trump said that if elected president, he would commute Ulbricht's sentence on his first day in office.[76] In June 2024, U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a similar promise to pardon Ulbricht, if elected.[77] Wired magazine, reporting from a 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville, said that clemency for Ross Ulbricht had become a single-issue voting concern among some cryptocurrency suporters.[78]

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. RealRossU . Ulbricht . Ross . I turned 38 yesterday . March 28, 2022 . 1508504339714875392 . 2023-08-28 . en.
  2. Web site: Ross Ulbricht, A/K/A "Dread Pirate Roberts," Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To Life In Prison. May 29, 2015. March 8, 2022. March 8, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220308100227/https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-manhattan-federal-court-life-prison. live.
  3. Web site: Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator . . Federal Bureau of Prisons . United States Department of Justice . 14 January 2018 . BOP Register Number: 18870-111 . April 6, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120406232524/http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=Brian&Middle=Patrick&LastName=Regan&Race=U&Sex=M&Age=&x=73&y=17 . live .
  4. News: Raymond. Nate. Accused Silk Road operator convicted on U.S. drug charges. June 22, 2015. Reuters. February 4, 2015. December 27, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151227110703/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-bitcoin-trial-idUSKBN0L82H920150205. live.
  5. Web site: Jury Verdict. Docket Alarm. September 27, 2016. October 1, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161001184453/https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/New_York_Southern_District_Court/1--14-cr-00068/USA_v._Ulbricht/183/. live.
  6. Web site: 2015-05-13 . Ross Ulbricht, The Creator And Owner Of The "Silk Road" Website, Found Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court On All Counts . 2022-12-07 . www.justice.gov . en . December 7, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221207111514/https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ross-ulbricht-creator-and-owner-silk-road-website-found-guilty-manhattan-federal-court . live .
  7. Web site: Silk Road founder loses his appeal, will serve a life sentence for online crimes. May 31, 2017 . Techcrunch.com. June 1, 2017. May 31, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170531225626/https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/31/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-appeal-denied/. live.
  8. Web site: Certiorari Denied . . 5 . https://archive.today/20180629151235/https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062818zr_k425.pdf . June 29, 2018 . June 29, 2018 . live .
  9. Web site: Judgment in a Criminal Case (Sentencing). Docket Alarm. September 27, 2016. October 1, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161001192356/https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/New_York_Southern_District_Court/1--14-cr-00068/USA_v._Ulbricht/269/. live.
  10. Web site: Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator . . Federal Bureau of Prisons . United States Department of Justice . 14 January 2018 . Register Number: 18870-111 . April 6, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120406232524/http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=Brian&Middle=Patrick&LastName=Regan&Race=U&Sex=M&Age=&x=73&y=17 . live .
  11. "Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht: Drug 'kingpin' or 'idealistic' Boy Scout? " CNN/Money. May 28, 2015. Retrieved on June 15, 2015.
  12. Segal, David. "Eagle Scout. Idealist. Drug Trafficker? " The New York Times. January 18, 2014. Retrieved on June 10, 2015.
  13. The Untold Story of Silk Road, Part 1. June 9, 2015. Wired. April 2015. December 1, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201214031/https://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/. live.
  14. "Man with Austin ties charged with running vast underground drugs website" (Archive). Austin American-Statesman. October 2, 2013. Retrieved on June 14, 2015.
  15. Dewey, Caitlin. "Everything we know about Ross Ulbricht, the outdoorsy libertarian behind Silk Road ". Washington Post. October 3, 2013. Retrieved on June 15, 2015.
  16. News: Collected Quotations Of The Dread Pirate Roberts, Founder Of Underground Drug Site Silk Road And Radical Libertarian. Greenburg. Andy. April 29, 2013. Forbes. May 5, 2018. June 12, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144311/https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/29/collected-quotations-of-the-dread-pirate-roberts-founder-of-the-drug-site-silk-road-and-radical-libertarian/. live.
  17. Web site: Mullin. Joe. "I have secrets": Ross Ulbricht's private journal shows Silk Road's birth. Ars Technica. March 4, 2016. January 21, 2015. January 22, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150122225354/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/silk-road-trial-fbi-reveals-whats-on-ross-ulbrichts-computer-in-open-court/. live.
  18. Web site: Ex-girlfriend of dark web mastermind on dating a man wanted by the FBI. 2021-01-15. www.cbsnews.com. November 10, 2020 . en-US. November 10, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201110142107/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ross-ulbricht-dread-pirate-roberts-silk-road-ex-girlfriend-fbi-declassified/. live.
  19. Web site: Mullin. Joe. Sunk: How Ross Ulbricht ended up in prison for life. Ars Technica. Condé Nast. November 14, 2015. May 29, 2015. June 1, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150601235653/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/05/sunk-how-ross-ulbricht-ended-up-in-prison-for-life/1/. live.
  20. News: Leger. Donna Leinwand. How FBI brought down cyber-underworld site Silk Road. December 13, 2015. USA Today. May 15, 2014. December 12, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151212030114/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/21/fbi-cracks-silk-road/2984921/. live.
  21. News: Popper. Nathaniel. "We are up to something big": Silk Road discovers Bitcoin. Salon. December 13, 2015. May 24, 2015. December 22, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151222120801/http://www.salon.com/2015/05/24/we_are_up_to_something_big_silk_road_discovers_bitcoin/. live.
  22. Web site: Pagliery. Jose. Bitcoin fallacy led to Silk Road founder's conviction. cnn.com. CNN Money. December 13, 2015. February 5, 2015. February 7, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150207094509/https://money.cnn.com/2015/02/05/technology/security/bitcoin-silk-road/. live.
  23. Ross Ulbricht Didn't Create Silk Road's Dread Pirate Roberts. This Guy Did. Greenburg. Andy. February 9, 2015. Wired. May 5, 2018. June 17, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180617045930/https://www.wired.com/2015/02/ross-ulbricht-didnt-create-silk-roads-dread-pirate-roberts-guy/. live.
  24. News: Someone Accessed Silk Road Operator's Account While Ross Ulbricht Was in Jail. Koebler. Jason. December 1, 2016. Motherboard. May 5, 2018. March 8, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180308131756/https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkjm4m/someone-accessed-dread-pirate-roberts-silk-road-operators-account-while-ross-ulbricht-was-in-jail. live.
  25. Web site: Corfield . Gareth . I helped catch Silk Road boss Ross Ulbricht: Undercover agent tells all . 2023-05-26 . www.theregister.com . en . May 26, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230526210425/https://www.theregister.com/2019/01/29/how_i_caught_silk_road_mastermind/ . live .
  26. Web site: Trevor . McAleenan . November 7, 2022 . U.S. v. Ross Ulbricht S1 14 Cr. 68 (LGS), exhibit 5: affidavit in support of government's forfeiture motion . November 28, 2022 . December 1, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221201050441/https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1549821/download . dead .
  27. Greenberg . Andy . September 5, 2014 . The FBI Finally Says How It 'Legally' Pinpointed Silk Road's Server . . 2022-11-28 . January 14, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190114185052/https://www.wired.com/2014/09/the-fbi-finally-says-how-it-legally-pinpointed-silk-roads-server/ . live .
  28. Web site: Chris Tarbell: FBI Agent Who Took Down Silk Road | Lex Fridman Podcast #340 . . November 22, 2022 .
  29. News: The Tax Sleuth Who Took Down a Drug Lord. The New York Times. Nathaniel. Popper. December 25, 2015. December 26, 2015. December 25, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151225215838/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/business/dealbook/the-unsung-tax-agent-who-put-a-face-on-the-silk-road.html. live.
  30. News: Silk Road: Google search unmasked Dread Pirate Roberts. August 19, 2017. BBC News. August 19, 2017. August 19, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170819002514/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-40977474/silk-road-google-search-unmasked-dread-pirate-roberts. live.
  31. Web site: Dark net marketplace Silk Road 'back online' . BBC . November 6, 2013 . December 20, 2013 . November 7, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131107014649/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24842410 . live .
  32. Web site: Who Is Ross Ulbricht? Piecing Together The Life Of The Alleged Libertarian Mastermind Behind Silk Road [Page 2] ]. Forbes . October 2, 2013 . December 19, 2013 . Mac, Ryan . October 5, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131005023107/https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/02/who-is-ross-ulbricht-piecing-together-the-life-of-the-alleged-libertarian-mastermind-behind-silk-road/2/ . live .
  33. Web site: Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbricht denied bail. The Guardian. November 21, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020239/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/21/silk-road-founder-held-without-bail. March 5, 2016.
  34. News: Bertrand. Natasha. Natasha Bertrand. May 29, 2015. The FBI staged a lovers' fight to catch the kingpin of the web's biggest illegal drug marketplace. Business Insider. live. May 30, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160625023157/http://www.businessinsider.com/ross-ulbricht-will-be-sentenced-soon--heres-how-he-was-arrested-2015-5. June 25, 2016.
  35. Web site: Trial Transcript, Day 2, page 856. January 21, 2015. January 21, 2015. August 7, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180807032544/https://freeross.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Day_5-2015_Jan_21_Trial_780-1030.pdf#page=77. live.
  36. Web site: 2015-05-13 . Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces The Indictment Of Ross Ulbricht, The Creator And Owner Of The "Silk Road" Website . 2022-12-07 . www.justice.gov . en . December 7, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221207192708/https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-indictment-ross-ulbricht-creator-and-owner-silk-road . live .
  37. Web site: February 4, 2014 . Ross Ulbricht Indictment . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180807033120/https://freeross.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ross_Ulbricht_superseding_indictment_8-21-2014.pdf . August 7, 2018 . February 4, 2014 . U.S District Court Southern District of New York.
  38. Web site: Accused Silk Road Operator Ross Ulbricht Convicted on All Counts. NBC News. February 4, 2015. June 21, 2015. February 7, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150207065328/http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/accused-silk-road-operator-ross-ulbricht-convicted-all-counts-n299606. live.
  39. Web site: Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison. May 29, 2015. October 17, 2015. The Guardian. Thielman. Sam. May 30, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150530053603/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/29/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-sentenced. live.
  40. Greenberg . Andy . May 29, 2015 . Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison . en-US . Wired . 2022-10-24 . 1059-1028 . May 29, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150529215648/http://www.wired.com/2015/05/silk-road-creator-ross-ulbricht-sentenced-life-prison/ . live .
  41. May 29, 2015 . Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts, sentenced to life in federal prison for creating, operating 'Silk Road' website . U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement . October 24, 2022 . October 24, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221024021936/https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-life-federal-prison-creating . live .
  42. May 11, 2023 . Silk Road Drug Vendor Who Claimed To Commit Murders-For-Hire For Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Charged With Narcotics And Money Laundering Conspiracies . . 2023-12-09 . December 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231209075937/https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/silk-road-drug-vendor-who-claimed-commit-murders-hire-silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht . live .
  43. News: Alan . Klasfeld . January 29, 2015 . Silk Road Murder Threat Shown as Case Nears End . 2023-12-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210120082824/https://www.courthousenews.com/silk-road-murder-threat-shown-as-case-nears-end/ . January 20, 2021 . . Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is not charged with murder for hire in his New York trial, but federal prosecutors have long accused him of hiring a hit-man to kill those who threatened his underground online drug empire. Minutes before the second week of Ulbricht's trial ended on Thursday, a jury saw email records supporting this allegation..
  44. Web site: The mystery of the disappearing Silk Road murder charges. The Daily Dot. Patrick Howell O'Neill. October 22, 2014. June 14, 2015. June 13, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150613004335/http://www.dailydot.com/crime/silk-road-murder-charges-ross-ulbricht/. live.
  45. Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Loses His Life Sentence Appeal. Wired. Andy Greenberg. May 31, 2017. August 19, 2020. May 31, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170531175825/https://www.wired.com/2017/05/silk-road-creator-ross-ulbricht-loses-life-sentence-appeal/. live.
  46. United States of America v. Ulbricht. 2d Cir.. 15-1815-cr. pg 33. May 31st, 2017. https://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/ULBRICHT-ca2-20170531.pdf. For example, because Ulbricht contested his responsibility for thefive commissioned murders for hire, the district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ulbricht did in fact commission the murders, believing that they would be carried out.. https://web.archive.org/web/20221207223347/https://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/ULBRICHT-ca2-20170531.pdf. live.
  47. Joseph Cox, 'Murdered' Silk Road Employee Sentenced to Time Served, Vice (January 26, 2016).
  48. Web site: Ross Ulbricht's Murder-for-Hire Charges Dropped by U.S. Attorney . Brian . Doherty . July 25, 2018 . Reason.com . November 22, 2019 . April 27, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190427084729/https://reason.com/2018/07/25/ross-ulbrichts-murder-for-hire-charges-d/ . live .
  49. Web site: Motion to Dismiss Indictment and Superseding Indictment . United States District Court for the District of Maryland . November 22, 2019 . August 27, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180827202144/http://freeross.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Doc_14_Dismissal_Indictment_7-26-2018.pdf . dead .
  50. In Silk Road Appeal, Ross Ulbricht's Defense Focuses on Corrupt Feds. Andy. Greenberg. Wired. January 12, 2016. January 13, 2016. January 13, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160113044804/https://www.wired.com/2016/01/ross-ulbrichts-defense-focuses-on-corrupt-feds-in-silk-road-appeal/. live.
  51. News: Silk Road website founder loses appeal of conviction, life sentence. Stempel. Jonathan. May 31, 2017. Reuters. May 5, 2018. May 31, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170531181814/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-silkroad-idUSKBN18R23A. live.
  52. Judges Question Ross Ulbricht's Life Sentence in Silk Road Appeal. Andy. Greenberg. October 6, 2016. October 15, 2016. Wired. October 7, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161007085909/https://www.wired.com/2016/10/judges-question-ulbrichts-life-sentence-silk-road-appeal/. live.
  53. United States v. Ulbricht , 858 F.3d 71 (2d. Cir. 2017)
  54. Cassye M. Cole & Harry Sandick, A Long Journey Through "Silk Road" Appeal: Second Circuit Affirms Conviction and Life Sentence of Silk Road Mastermind, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, Lexology (June 8, 2017): "At trial, the government presented evidence that Ulbricht conspired to engage in multiple murders for hire to protect Silk Road's anonymity. Ulbricht was not charged with these offenses. ... At sentencing, in its Pre-Sentence Investigation Report, the U.S. Probation Office referenced the five commissioned murders, as well as six drug-related deaths connected with Silk Road. On May 29, 2015, the district court sentenced Ulbricht to life in prison, pursuant to the guidelines advisory sentence range, and based on the recommendation of the U.S. Probation Office. ... While the Court recognized that a life sentence for selling drugs was rare and could be considered harsh, the facts of this case involved much more than routine drug dealings—namely that Ulbricht commissioned at least five murders for hire and did not challenge those murders on appeal."
  55. News: The Supreme Court is Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht's last hope. VICE News. February 24, 2018. en. February 3, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180203042553/https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kzn7a9/the-supreme-court-is-silk-road-founder-ross-ulbrichts-last-hope. live.
  56. Web site: Ulbricht v. U.S.. Ulbricht. Ross. December 22, 2017. SupremeCourt.Gov. February 23, 2018. February 20, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180220151956/https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-950/24860/20171222095855755_Ulbricht%20cert%20petition.pdf. live.
  57. Web site: Ulbricht v. U.S.. Ulbricht. Ross. December 22, 2017. SupremeCourt.Gov. May 5, 2021. February 20, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180220151956/https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-950/24860/20171222095855755_Ulbricht%20cert%20petition.pdf. live.
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  59. Web site: Ulbricht v. U.S.. Francisco. Noel. March 7, 2018. SupremeCourt.Gov. March 31, 2018. April 1, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075233/https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-950/38031/20180307141700560_17-950%20Ulbricht%20FINAL.pdf. live.
  60. News: U.S. Supreme Court turns away Silk Road website founder's appeal. Reuters. June 28, 2018. en-US. June 29, 2018. November 9, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201109041240/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-silkroad/us-supreme-court-turns-away-silk-road-website-founders-appeal-idUSKBN1JO1YX. live.
  61. Bilton . Nick . December 18, 2020 . 'You Are a Criminal': The Double Standard of a Trump Pardon for Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht. . Vanity Fair . December 20, 2020 . February 12, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210212143057/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/the-double-standard-of-a-trump-pardon-for-silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht . live .
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  66. News: Ramey . Corinne . Justice Department Announces Seizure of Bitcoin Once Valued at $3.36 Billion . 7 November 2022 . Wall Street Journal . 7 November 2022 . November 7, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221107213550/https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-announces-seizure-of-3-36-billion-in-bitcoin-11667845419 . live .
  67. Greenberg . Andy . April 22, 2022 . A $3 Billion Silk Road Seizure Will Erase Ross Ulbricht's Debt . en-US . Wired . 2022-10-23 . 1059-1028 . October 23, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221023200512/https://www.wired.com/story/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-debt-bitcoin-siezure/ . live .
  68. Web site: Smith . Andrew . 2022-04-24 . Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht To Forfeit $3 billion worth of BTC To The US Government . 2022-10-23 . The Coin Republic: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Ethereum & Blockchain News . en-US . October 23, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221023200513/https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/04/24/silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht-to-forfeit-3-billion-worth-of-btc-to-the-us-government/ . live .
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  70. Web site: Dujsik . Mark . Silk Road . rogerebert.com . 18 October 2021 . February 27, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210227075344/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/silk-road-movie-review-2021 . live .
  71. Web site: NFT of Silk Road founder's art sells for more than $6 million. 2022-01-09. NBC News. December 10, 2021 . en. January 9, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220109163523/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/nft-silk-road-founders-art-sells-6-million-rcna8369. live.
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  73. News: Nino . Jose . Thomas Massie Calls for the Biden Administration to Grant Ross Ulbricht Clemency . May 24, 2022 . August 4, 2023 . August 4, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230804003143/https://libertyconservativenews.com/thomas-massie-calls-for-the-biden-administration-to-grant-ross-ulbricht-clemency/ . live .
  74. News: Welch . Matt . Help Reason Fight for the Unjustly Imprisoned . December 4, 2018 . August 4, 2023 . August 4, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230804003142/https://reason.com/2018/12/04/help-reason-fight-for-the-unjustly-impri/ . live .
  75. Web site: Libertarian Jo Jorgensen Talks About Ross Ulbricht . . Nov 2, 2020 . August 4, 2023 . August 4, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230804003142/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9BntDyk3g&ab_channel=NicholasShankin . live .
  76. Web site: 2024-05-25 . Trump to announce plans to commute 'Silk Road' website operator Ross Ulbricht's prison sentence . 2024-05-26 . NBC News . en . Abigail . Brooks . Megan . Lebowitz . May 26, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240526014103/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-commute-silk-road-website-operator-ross-ulbrichts-life-prison-se-rcna154082 . live .
  77. Web site: 2024-05-22 . Robert Kennedy Jr Promises to Pardon Ross Ulbricht if Elected President — Says He's Been in Prison 'Far Too Long'. 2024-08-19 . Bitcoin.com News . en . Kevin . Helms .
  78. News: Klein . Jessica . Bitcoin Bros Go Wild for Donald Trump . 2024-07-31 . Wired . en-US . 1059-1028.

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