Trump Pardons Founder Of Drug Marketplace Whose Case Was Championed By Libertarians

President Donald Trump on Tuesday granted a pardon to Ross William Ulbricht, the imprisoned creator of a dark web marketplace for drugs and other illicit products whose case had become a cause célèbre for libertarians and crypto enthusiasts.

Trump explicitly tied his decision to free Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence, to the support his campaign drew from people who viewed the Silk Road founder as a pioneer and victim of government persecution.

“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

He also compared Ulbricht’s treatment by authorities to the investigations that have dogged him in recent years.

“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,” he said.

In 2015, Ulbricht, who called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to life in prison for owning and operating Silk Road, the dark web marketplace for buying and selling drugs and other illegal goods. It gained a following among crypto enthusiasts and libertarians in part for being an early user of Bitcoin and challenging governmental authority.

Silk Road had thousands of listings for over 200 million dollars worth of narcotics, which were sold and distributed across more than 10 different countries.

Trump previously said he would commute Ulbricht’s sentence “on Day One” at the Libertarian National Convention in 2024. It came a day after he granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.