Trump Pardons Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht

President Donald Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon Tuesday for Ross Ulbricht, the founder and creator of darknet website Silk Road. 

Ulbricht founded Silk Road in 2011 as an online market dedicated entirely to the free, anonymous exchange of goods and services. It was intended to embody Ulbricht’s radical libertarian ethos, avoiding regulation and taxation by the U.S. government. The marketplace was soon used for the sale of illegal drugs and other contraband items, like false or stolen IDs, and became a target for federal investigation.

Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 by the FBI and charged with a number of crimes including money laundering, conducting a criminal enterprise, and facilitating the sale of narcotics. He was convicted in 2015 on all charges and given two life sentences imprisonment, plus 40 years, without parole.

The pardon is a major coup for libertarians, who claim that Ulbricht was sentenced unjustly. It was also one of Trump’s campaign promises, made when he spoke at the Libertarian Party National Convention in 2024.

In a post on social media announcing the pardon, Trump argued that Ulbricht was a victim of “the modern day weaponization of government” and asserted that his sentence was “ridiculous.”