President Trump pardons mastermind behind illicit drug marketplace Silk Road

Racquel Bazos, Baltimore Sun on Jan 21, 2025

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President Donald Trump pardoned the founder of darknet marketplace Silk Road, he said in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday night.

Ross William Ulbricht, known online as Dread Pirate Roberts, was indicted in the U.S. District Court in Maryland on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, attempted witness murder and using interstate commerce in the commission of murder for hire in 2013. He was later sentenced to life in prison in a separate case.

The investigation that eventually brought Ulbricht and Silk Road down began in Harford County, according to previous coverage.

“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 was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!,” the president said online. Ulbricht’s pardon comes after Trump issued a pardon to anyone charged or convicted in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt.

Silk Road was an illegal marketplace to buy drugs and other contraband using cryptocurrency. Tracing the cryptocurrency transactions, investigators estimated that Silk Road “processed $1.2 billion worth of business.”

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