Open Editions: Ross Ulbricht Freed
Ross Ulbricht received a full pardon from President Trump on January 23rd, 2025
He served 12 years in prison, but was sentenced to TWO life sentences + 40 years !
He created the 'dark web' shopping mall for illegal goods called: "Silk Road"
The site used bitcoin as payment and allowed the purchase and sale of any and all drugs from marijuana to cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA, or Molly), to LSD, Heroin etc. I never went but I believe in it's early days it also allowed weapons, and that was later split off to another site called 'The Armory'.
Ross was arrested in 2014 and at trial besides his confinement he was also ordered to pay $183 million in restitution !
Silk Road was launched in Feb. of 2011 and in January bitcoin was .30 cents each ! Bitcoin did go up but the high for the year was under $30 each ! Silk road was shut down in October 2013 when bitcoin was under $200 each ! The site facilitated sales exceeding 9.5B bitcoins. In November of 2021 the US government traced and seized 50,000 bitcoins that a hacker had stolen from bitcoin in 2013, the prosecutors and defense agreed that Ross Ulbricht would relinquish any ownership over those coins, and would be used to pay his 183M restitution and the govt would keep the balance. In 2021 when these bitcoin were seized they were valued at just under $30k each, meaning a total value of 1.5 Billion dollars, meaning after his full restitution of 183m the government would be the benefactor of $1.3 billion dollars ! I'd say that was a worthwhile trade for the Government and certainly the ability to overlook some transgressions !
Many of the buyers and sellers on the 'silk road' site were arrested and did 4 - 6 years in prison. Ross served 12 years before being pardoned. So time served also seems reasonable. He created a marketplace.
A gun is neutral, it doesn't know or care who it is pointed at, and can be used for good or evil.
I'm not saying I 100% agree with the outcome, but it's certainly interesting, and could make for a lively discussion. It's a different world we live in now.
