On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online marketplace Silk Road. Ulbricht, who was convicted in 2015, had been serving a life sentence without parole for his role in creating and operating the platform, which became a hub for online drug transactions amounting to over $200 million, primarily conducted in Bitcoin.
The 40-year-old Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 and has since become a prominent figure in discussions about digital privacy, online freedom, and sentencing reform. President Trump, fulfilling a campaign promise, made the pardon one of his first high-profile acts in his second term.
After signing the pardon, Trump spoke about the decision and the emotional call he made to Ulbricht’s mother.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump said. “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. He was given two life