Drug marketplace founder Ross Ulbricht makes first remarks on Trump pardon

The dark-web marketplace founder, Ross Ulbricht, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump, has made a statement about his first-ever release from prison.

Ulbricht, 40, was sentenced to two life sentences, plus 40 years, in 2015 for running Silk Road, an illicit online market that US prosecutors said facilitated $183m in drug sales using Bitcoin.

Following a campaign promise to libertarians and cryptocurrency enthusiasts who had lobbied for his release, Trump on Tuesday granted Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon.

Ulbricht expressed his gratitude to Trump for granting him clemency in a video message that was posted on X on Friday.

He let me out while I was living my life without a parole and imprisoned for more than 11 years. I’m a free man now. So let people know that Donald Trump is a true leader, he said.

“Thank you so much, President Trump, for giving me this amazing blessing. I am so, so grateful to have my life back, to have my future back, to have a second chance”.

Ulbricht said he wanted to spend more time with his family but would like to hear more about it later.

“This is a victory and it’s your victory, too. And this is an important moment for everybody, everywhere who loves freedom and who cares about second chances”, he said.

“It feels amazing to be free, to say the least. It’s overwhelming”.

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Libertarians and crypto supporters criticized Ulbricht’s case as an example of government overreach, claiming that his punishment did not reflect the crime and that he had been unfairly prosecuted for dealings with others.

Ulbricht’s attorneys claimed that despite having the website, he had been lured back as a fall guy just as the authorities were closing in, and that he had already given control to others after a short while.

Trump praised Ulbricht’s pardon as “ridiculous” and said those responsible for his prosecution were “the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponization of government against me.”

According to US prosecutors, Ulbricht is portrayed as a criminal mastermind driven by a desire for wealth and power, and he is accused of selling drugs on his website that led to the deaths of six people.

Although he was not convicted of any such crime and no proof that anyone had actually been killed, the prosecution claimed Ulbricht had encouraged the murders of people he perceived as threats to his operation.

Trump’s pardon was criticized by a number of Democratic legislators despite the fact that some Republicans who support libertarian principles were known for it.

Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto wrote in a post on X that “pardoning drug trafficking kingpins is a slap in the face to the families who have lost loved ones to his crimes.”