PK Press Club — U.S. President Donald Trump has granted a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground online marketplace known for illicit trading. Ulbricht, 40, was serving a life sentence for facilitating more than $200 million in illegal transactions using Bitcoin.
Ulbricht’s 2013 arrest and 2015 conviction marked a major prosecution in the United States, just a few years after the popular cryptocurrency’s rise. The Silk Road platform was a hot spot for drug dealers and others engaging in illegal activities.
The presidential pardon, announced Tuesday, responds to a campaign promise made by the Republican president. In a statement on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump criticized those involved in Ulbricht’s conviction. He called them “scum” and linked them to what he described as “the modern militarization of government” against him.
This pardon clears Ulbricht of his accusations, making it both complete and unconditional, according to President Trump’s statement.
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