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US President Donald Trump says he has signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal drugs were sold.
Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 in New York of narcotics conspiracy and money laundering and sentenced to life in prison.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he had called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her that he had granted a pardon to her son.
Silk Road, which was shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ulbricht, sold illegal drugs using Bitcoin, as well as hacking equipment and stolen passports.
“The scum who worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern weaponization of government against me,” Trump said in his online post Tuesday night. “They sentenced him to two life sentences, plus 40 years. It’s ridiculous!”
Ulbricht was found guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.
During his trial, prosecutors said Ulbricht’s website, hosted on the hidden “dark web”, sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs anonymously.
He directed Silk Road under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts, a reference to a character in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.
Prosecutors said he also requested six contract killings, including one against a former Silk Road employee, although they said there was no evidence the murders had actually been carried out.
The Silk Road took its name from historic trade routes that spanned Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.
The site achieved notoriety through media reports and online conversations. But users could only access the site through Tor, a system that allows people to use the web without revealing who they are or what country they are in.
FBI court documents said the site had just under a million registered users, but investigators said they did not know how many were active.
Ulbricht sentencing – who has two university degrees – District Judge Katherine Forrest said he was “no better person than any other drug dealer”.
She said the site had been “her carefully planned life’s work”.
The judge noted that the long sentence also served as a message to copycats that there would be “very serious consequences.”
“I wanted to empower people to make decisions in their lives and have privacy and anonymity,” Ulbricht said at his sentencing in May 2015.
Trump previously hinted that he planned to commute Ulbricht’s sentence during a speech last year at the Libertarian National Convention.
The Libertarian Party had been advocating for Ulbricht’s release and said his case was an example of government overreach.
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a Trump ally, applauded the president’s decision.
“Thank you for keeping your word to me and to others who have been advocating for Ross’s freedom,” the Kentucky lawmaker said.
