Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2014 for operating the Silk Road dark web marketplace, has received a full and unconditional pardon.
Trump, 78, had vowed in May to reduce Ulbricht’s life sentence on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering “down to time served” if he won the 2024 election.
Ulbricht was arrested in October 2013 in San Francisco and accused of running the notorious website — which sold drugs and other illegal products while accepting Bitcoin as payment — under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.”
Now 40, Ulbricht was convicted in February 2015 on charges including drug trafficking and conspiracies to commit money laundering and computer hacking. He was sentenced that May to two life terms in prison plus 40 years.
Ulbricht had unsuccessfully appealed his conviction and sentence up to the Supreme Court, leaving him to serve out his time at a maximum security prison in Arizona.
On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wrote to Trump asking him to show mercy.
“I write to urge you to follow through on your stated intention to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. Mr Ulbricht is serving two life sentences plus forty years without parole for nonviolent offences related to the website he launched in early 2011,” Paul’s letter read.
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