Presidential Pardons

Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, which is an interesting decision. 

Ulbricht was essentially an online drug kingpin, who also allegedly solicited a murder-for-hire plot. He was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 40 years (not sure how that makes sense, they obviously didn't want him to ever get out).

Ross William Ulbricht (/ˈʊlbrɪkt/; born March 27, 1984) is an American who created and operated the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. He was imprisoned from 2013 until January 2025, when he received a full pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Silk Road operated as a hidden service on the Tor network and facilitated the sale of narcotics and other illegal products and services. Ulbricht ran the site under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts", after the fictional character from The Princess Bride.

In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Ulbricht and took Silk Road offline. In 2015, he was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking. He was sentenced to double life in prison plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht's appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2017 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 were unsuccessful.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Ulbricht had paid $730,000 in murder-for-hire deals targeting at least five people, because they purportedly threatened to reveal the Silk Road enterprise.

I recently wrote about Biden's decision to commute all but three of the federal death sentences to life. In that piece, I was addressing the hypocrisy of wanting to abolish the death penalty, except in certain cases. My position is: either you're for the death penalty, or you're not. Stating that certain cases warrant the death penalty just means you are pro-death penalty, which is fine, but don't parade this idea that you're anti-death penalty. 

Regarding Ross' pardon, it's an interesting maneuver by the Trump administration. I watched the movie Silk Road, which was good. And I certainly think Ross is an interesting person, but let's face it, he is a high level criminal. It wasn't like he didn't know what he was doing.

I'm certainly not here to "cast the first stone," nobody is perfect. But there are consequences to actions. We all know that. What I find interesting is that you would expect the Biden administration to be the one that would have pardoned him, not Trump. Trump (and republicans in general) are supposed to be the "law and order" party. Dems are more of the "laws are oppressive" team. 

I think the problem with these pardons, is it becomes somewhat of a popularity contest. There is no doubt that there are people doing more time, or who have harsher sentences, that did way less. But because nobody knows who they are, nobody cares.

I don't care that Ross got pardoned, but there just seems to be more to the story. Why didn't Biden pardon him? Ross is a libertarian folk hero, not a conservative. Ross is the antithesis of a republican. He would be that guy on the internet posting about how much of white supremacist Trump and his republican cronies are. It just seems odd. 

Furthermore, how long till Ross is back in the game? I wonder how much BTC/XMR he as stashed. 

Oh well. Enjoy your freedom, Ross. You're a lucky guy. And don't hesitate to hmu, I'd love to do an interview with you. 

God bless.