![]() “I created it for what I believed at the time to be selfless reasons, but in the end it turned out to be a very selfish thing to do.” “If I had realized the impact my creation of Silk Road would ultimately have on the people I care about most, I never would have created Silk Road,” Ulbricht wrote. He expressed his remorse in a letter to the judge. Ulbricht, who has been jailed since his arrest in October 2013, never testified at his trial. “It does not matter that he did not personally handle those drugs neither would a traditional kingpin.” “Ulbricht bears responsibility for the overdoses, addictions, and other foreseeable repercussions of the illegal drugs sold on Silk Road,” Bharara wrote in a letter to the judge. ![]() Attorney Preet Bharara painted Ulbricht as a kingpin of a drug trafficking enterprise who made things easier for drug buyers and sellers. In the three years before it was shut down, it facilitated over 1.5 million transactions totaling $214 million.īefore Friday’s hearing, U.S. Silk Road was a first of its kind - an unregulated online marketplace where buyers paid using bitcoin, an electronic currency that is hard to trace. “I strongly believe my son would be here today if Ross Ulbricht hadn’t created silk road,” he said. Richard, a father from Boston whose son, Bryan, who was identified only by his first name, died after using drugs bought on Silk Road read a letter he’d written to the court. Ulbricht also apologized to the family members in court of two people who had died from overdoses from drugs they had purchased on Silk Road. Ulbricht, a college grad from Penn State, explained that he created Silk Road to empower people by providing them with “privacy” and “anonymity.” “I wish I could go back and convince myself to take a different path,” he said. Prosecutors had charged Ulbricht with commissioning six murders-for-hire but those charges were dropped and there is no evidence that these murders were ever carried out.įorrest ordered Ulbricht to forfeit $183 million.Įarlier in court, Ulbricht made an emotional appeal to Forrest for leniency, insisting he wasn’t a greedy person and asking for a second chance. The judge also said there was “no doubt” that Ulbricht paid for murders of those who had threatened Silk Road. The judge also addressed the 97 letters that had been written to the court by Ulbricht’s family and supporters seeking leniency.įorrest acknowledged that Ulbricht didn’t fit the profile of a typical criminal, but said she had no interest in making a judgment “on which of you to know” - the Ulbricht portrayed in the letters or the convicted criminal standing before her. You wanted it to be your legacy and it is.” Rejecting Ulbricht’s request for mercy during the nearly three-hour hearing in Manhattan federal court, Forrest said of Silk Road, “It was carefully planned life’s work. She said anyone considering following in Ulbricht’s footsteps needs “to understand there will be very serious consequences.” “You, as the defendant, have to pay the price.” “There must be no doubt that no one is above the law,” Forrest said. Forrest was clear that she was making an example of Ulbricht in part to deter others from committing similar crimes. He could have been sentenced to only 20 years. Ulbricht, who is 31, was convicted in February on seven counts ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking. NEW YORK (May 29, 2015)– Ross Ulbricht, creator of the underground website Silk Road, which let users anonymously buy and sell anything from drugs to hacking tutorials, was sentenced Friday to life in prison after he made a tearful plea for leniency. ![]() Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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