The founder of Silk Road, a site on the dark web for selling drugs and other contraband items, has called President Donald Trump “a man of his word” after he was pardoned this week.
Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht on Tuesday, releasing him from a life sentence just 11 years in. A jury convicted the now-40-year-old in February 2015 of seven counts, including conspiracy and money laundering, related to his role in running the marketplace. Ulbricht was handed a double life sentence plus 40 years. He was imprisoned in Arizona.
“Last night, Donald Trump granted me a full pardon,” Ulbricht said in a video posted to X Thursday. “I was doing life without parole and I was locked up for more than 11 years. But he let me out. I’m a free man now. So let it be known that Donald Trump is a man of his word.”
“I am so, so grateful to have my life back, to have my future back, to have this second chance,” he added.
“This is such an important moment for me and for my whole family. It’s an important moment for everybody who’s been working for this for years. This is a victory, and it’s your victory too.”
Trump said he called Ulbricht’s mother on Monday to tell her he would be freed.
“It was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“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.”
Ulbricht, known by the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” founded Silk Road in 2011. Its services were available globally and could be accessed via a Tor browser, which protects users’ anonymity.
Prosecutors argued more than $200m in drug deals had taken place on Ulbricht’s site. They also claimed had solicited six murders-for-hire, including one against a former Silk Road employee — but later said they had found no evidence the targets were killed.
Trump had promised to free Ulbricht while speaking at the Libertarian Party National Convention last year. Members of the Libertarian Party have long advocated for his release.
Ulbricht’s attorney Brandon Sample said the 40-year-old is “deeply and eternally grateful” to be free.
“This decision offers Ross the opportunity to begin anew, to rebuild his life, and to contribute positively to society,” Sample told The Washington Post.
Ulbricht isn’t the only one Trump freed from prison. The President also pardoned some 1,500 people convicted of crimes related to their roles in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.
Among them was Enrique Tarrio, a former leader of Proud Boys, an all-male organization that describes itself as “Western chauvinists.” Tarrio was serving a 22-year sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Capitol riots.
