Donald Trump Pardons Ross Ulbricht

President Donald Trump has signed an order granting a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the darknet market Silk Road. The U.S. leader announced this on Truth Social.

FREEDOM!!!! pic.twitter.com/itRuuyFAxe

— Free_Ross (@Free_Ross) January 22, 2025

Trump spoke with Ulbricht’s mother, expressing gratitude to her and the Libertarian movement for their support during the election.

“The scum who worked on his conviction are the same crazies involved in the current weaponization of government against me. [Ross] was given two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!” Trump wrote. 

The Free Ross family page on X responded to the news.

Ross was just granted a FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON by @realDonaldTrump. Words cannot express how grateful we are.

President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross’s life. ROSS IS A FREE MAN!!!!!

— Free_Ross (@Free_Ross) January 21, 2025

“Words cannot express how grateful we are. President Trump is a man of his word, and he just saved Ross’s life. Ross is a free man!” the tweet stated.

Ulbricht’s release was one of Trump’s campaign promises.

In May 2024, Ulbricht himself conveyed through relatives his immense gratitude and anticipation of a ‘second chance’.

Ulbricht’s case garnered significant public attention. Over 250 organizations, notable individuals, and opinion leaders advocated for his release. In 2019, prominent venture capitalist Tim Draper joined their ranks. Later, Elon Musk remarked that the sentence given to the Silk Road creator was excessively harsh.

On the eve of the pardon, Polymarket users assessed the likelihood of Ulbricht’s pardon within Trump’s first 100 days in office at 97%.

Silk Road, established in 2011, is known as the first modern internet marketplace of the ‘dark web’ with a bitcoin-based payment system. 

U.S. authorities arrested Ulbricht in October 2013. In May 2015, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest found him guilty of drug trafficking, conspiracy to transport drugs, computer hacking, money laundering, and leading a criminal enterprise. The platform’s creator received a double life sentence without the possibility of parole, of which he served 11 years.

Previously, Ulbricht fully relinquished claims to millions of dollars in bitcoin confiscated by U.S. authorities.