Donald Trump pardons creator of dark web drug marketplace Silk Road

22 January 2025, 10:13

Donald Trump has signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal drugs were sold.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty in a 2015 narcotics and money laundering trial.

Taking to his social media site, Truth Social, President Trump said he had called Ulbritch’s mother to inform her of the pardon.

"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," Trump wrote.

"He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"

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Silk Road was known for selling illegal drugs in exchange for Bitcoin before its closure in 2013.

The site was found to have sold $200m (£131m) worth of drugs during its time on the dark web.

Ulbricht, who went by the name Dread Pirate Roberts when appearing on the site, was also accused of soliciting six murders-for-hire, although no evidence was found for this allegation.

The Silk Road rose to notoriety through social media and online chatrooms but was only accessible through a Tor - which allows people to access websites without revealing where they are.

Just under a million people were regular users of the site, court documents show.

"I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity," Ulbricht said upon being sentenced.