Trump pardons former Penn State graduate student who founded Silk Road criminal marketplace
Updated: 5:24 PM EST Jan 22, 2025
WGAL NEWS EIGHT. ALL RIGHT, TOM, THANK YOU. WE’LL SEE YOU AT SIX. AND TRUMP ALSO PARDONED A FORMER PENN STATE GRADUATE STUDENT SERVING A LIFE SENTENCE FOR RUNNING A WEBSITE THAT SOLD DRUGS AND OTHER ILLEGAL ITEMS. 40 YEAR OLD ROSS ULBRICHT WAS CONVICTED IN 2015 OF RUNNING SILK ROAD. THAT’S A SITE WHERE DRUG DEALERS CONDUCTED MORE THAN $200 MILLION IN ILLEGAL TRADE FOR YEARS. TRUMP SAID IN A STATEMENT ON TRUTH SOCIAL, QUOTE, THE SCUM THAT WORKED TO CONVICT HIM WERE SOME OF THE SAME LUNATICS WHO WERE INVOLVED IN
Trump pardons former Penn State graduate student who founded Silk Road criminal marketplace
Updated: 5:24 PM EST Jan 22, 2025
A former Penn State graduate student serving a life sentence for running a dark web marketplace is among the people that President Donald Trump pardoned.Ross Ulbricht was found guilty in 2015 of creating and operating Silk Road, a hidden website people where bought and sold illegal drugs, as well as other unlawful goods and services.Trump called Ulbricht’s sentence “ridiculous,” claiming it was disproportionate to the crime.He said in a statement 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.”Prosecutors said Ulbricht, who was known online as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” founded Silk Road in January 2011.Before it was shut down by law enforcement in October 2013, it emerged as what prosecutors described as the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet.The vast majority of items for sale on Silk Road were controlled substances, including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD.Other illicit goods and services were also bought and sold on Silk Road, such as computer hacking services, pirated media content, and offers to produce fake driver’s licenses, passports and Social Security cards.
A former Penn State graduate student serving a life sentence for running a dark web marketplace is among the people that President Donald Trump pardoned.
Ross Ulbricht was found guilty in 2015 of creating and operating Silk Road, a hidden website people where bought and sold illegal drugs, as well as other unlawful goods and services.
Trump called Ulbricht’s sentence “ridiculous,” claiming it was disproportionate to the crime.
He said in a statement 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.”
Prosecutors said Ulbricht, who was known online as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” founded Silk Road in January 2011.
Before it was shut down by law enforcement in October 2013, it emerged as what prosecutors described as the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet.
The vast majority of items for sale on Silk Road were controlled substances, including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD.
Other illicit goods and services were also bought and sold on Silk Road, such as computer hacking services, pirated media content, and offers to produce fake driver’s licenses, passports and Social Security cards.
