Amazing that he can simultaneously want to close both borders to prevent drugs coming in and then pardons the architect of the biggest drug selling website of the time. I would prefer the vast majority of people in prison including Ulbricht to be rehabilitated, and not locked up, but that is some real cognitive dissonance.
It makes perfect sense when you realize that Silk Road was the killer app that launched Bitcoin and the entire Crypto universe that is currently funding Trump's lifestyle.
Now Ross can dust off that old brain wallet and live large in his stash. When he was arrested, 1 BTC was worth $200ish, it's now worth $100k. And he can make more dollars whenever he wants to by simply selling a shitty token.
Don't forget the... six(?) attempted homicides.
Oh, you mean the ones that were not charged at trial and dismissed by the court for lack of evidence years later, those six?
Edit: https://reason.com/2018/07/25/ross-ulbrichts-murder-for-hire-charges-d/
I'm sympathetic to people who were talking directly to a federal agent, except in the case of pedophilia. God forbid they just arrest the person for running an illegal business and not try to entrap them. By doing that they probably contributed to him getting the pardon in the first place.
Silk road guy ?
the very same
Thanks for clarifying, I wonder if he has any bitcoin stashed away. That would be a nice payday at today's prices
Whoa, less than 15 years on a life sentence. Thankfully Trump is here to remind us that crime does pay.
That's fantastic news.
Maybe now justice can finally be served and he can find a real hitman to kill his colleagues and rivals!
That was never actually charged at trial and was dismissed by the court years later due to lack of evidence.
Yeah, the simpler explanation is that he was set up so they could put him away for longer. Since he got a life sentence, they didn't need to pursue it further.
bunch of fucking assholes this is a nice spit in their face
Eh, they're just doing their jobs. The real problem here is the judge and the laws on the books.
They're just doing their jobs is an extremely slippery slope. As an example, I would never want to go to the military because a soldier's job is killing people and they're just doing their job.
It sure is.
FUCK YES!!! VERY HAPPY!!!!. He shouldn't have ever had to go to jail in the first place, but this is better than him still being there.
Exactly. He's a first time, non-violent offender providing illicit goods in as ethical a way as he could. Also, providing hosting for illegal commerce shouldn't be illegal, or at least shouldn't have nearly as high of consequences as the people actually trafficking drugs and providing other illegal services.
Instead of putting this guy in jail, we should be looking at making peaceful transactions legal. Me choosing what to put in my body shouldn't be illegal since I'm only hurting myself
1000% agree.
Why are people in support of this guy?
Ross Ulbricht? He was given a life sentence without possibility of parole for the heinous crime of operating a website that facilitated peaceful transactions between consenting adults. Meanwhile, murderers, rapists, and con artists get off with almost nothing.
Here's an article about it by libertarian-leaning magazine Reason, and some quotes:
From a libertarian perspective, it is obvious that no one should go to prison for facilitating peaceful transactions among consenting adults. But Ulbricht's grossly disproportionate punishment should give pause even to supporters of the war on drugs.
...
Silk Road not only protected consumers against the risks of arrest and black-market violence. It also protected them against rip-offs through an escrow system that delayed payment until shipments were received.
In contrast with the potentially lethal uncertainty regarding drug composition that users typically face as a result of prohibition, Silk Road offered some assurance that buyers were getting what they expected.
...
As Forrest saw it, these benefits magnified Ulbricht's offenses because Silk Road encouraged drug use by making it less dangerous and more convenient. Even if you are sympathetic to that view, a life sentence for a first-time, nonviolent drug offender is hard to fathom, let alone justify. It was far more severe than the sentences imposed on other Silk Road defendants, including people who actually sold drugs, as opposed to assisting those transactions.
...
Forrest also seemed to believe that Ulbricht's libertarian views, to which she repeatedly alluded, were relevant in determining how many years he should serve. As you might expect, she said his moral opposition to drug prohibition "provides no excuse." But she also thought it was "notable" that "the reasons you started Silk Road were philosophical," adding, "I don't know that it is a philosophy left behind."
Hopefully that gives some context, but please read the article if what I've quoted interests you.
I absolutely abhor Trump, but I also believe that Ross Ulbricht should be free and that we should have a path to legal consumption of recreational drugs.
He was at least accused of putting out contracts to have people killed. 🤷♂️
He was never formally charged, and the charges were dropped years later due to lack of evidence.
Edit: https://reason.com/2018/07/25/ross-ulbrichts-murder-for-hire-charges-d/
Because he was put in jail for over a decade for creating a website and he was made an example victim of the failed drug war.
I think its slightly dishonest to frame this as him simply "creating a website". He created a marketplace to sell drugs on, I just don't understand the sympathy. I feel bad for low level drug dealers in jail, this guy not so much.
I would agree it could've been handled differently, same with every other aspect of the war on drugs. But celebrating this guy is a step too far for me.
Fair enough. The way I see it though is he made the drug trade incredibly safer because there were forums dedicated to drug testing, the stuff you got. You didn't have to meet up with people in shady back alleys to purchase the drugs. So reduction of violence occurred, etc.
He tried to put out contract killinga on people, though, right?
That isn't selling drugs online for crypto.
He was never formally charged with those, and the court dismissed those charges years later due to lack of evidence. So either he did not do it, or the US government in all its power could not find out that he did it.
I did some reading and because he was never indicted for them for the trial, I don't believe they've been dismissed, at least based on my quick research.
I wonder what the statute of limitations is, and what this pardon is for and if a prosecutor still thinks those are indictments worth pursuing.
Yeah, but dropped isn't dismissed. I can't tell who is saying they dismissed the charged, a judge or a prosecutor.
Right after Ross’s arrest, prosecutors in the state of Maryland filed a separate indictment that contained the only allegation of murder-for-hire ever filed against Ross. The indictment referenced an alleged hit on Curtis Green, a Silk Road administrator (more on Curtis Green below). For nearly five years, that indictment was left untouched, unprosecuted. Eventually, in July 2018, the District of Maryland dismissed it with prejudice, meaning it can never be re-filed or used against Ross again.[3][4]
https://freeross.org/false-allegations/
Edit: the pdf https://freeross.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Doc_14_Dismissal_Indictment_7-26-2018.pdf
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
