US President Donald Trump pardoned 73 people, including former Ripple board member Ken Kurson, as stated on the White House site. The Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht did not make the list.
Kurson was arrested in October 2020 on charges of cyberstalking his former wife. She had previously urged authorities to drop the case and spoke out against the arrest.
In December, Trump directed the administration’s lawyers review the documents in Ross Ulbricht’s case. However, he did not appear on the final clemency list, just as former CIA employee Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange did not.
Donald Trump will leave office at noon local time (20:00 MSK) on January 20. The inauguration of the elected president Joe Biden will follow.
The Silk Road story: how Bitcoin propelled the darknet economy to a new level
In 2015, the court found Ulbricht guilty of drug trafficking via Silk Road, conspiracy to traffic illegal substances, hacking computer networks and money laundering, and of leading a criminal organization.
In the same year, the founder of the darknet marketplace was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 2019, venture capitalist Tim Draper spoke out in favor of Ulbricht’s release. In March 2020, a petition with a similar demand gathered 275,000 signatures.
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