Ross Ulbricht: Silk Road was a platform like eBay

Ross Ulbricht, also known as Dread Pirate Roberts, was the founder of the online market Silk Road on the Dark Web. Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, drug trafficking and piracy. He was twice sentenced to life without suspension or the right to appeal and another 40 years extra.

The latest news from Ulbricht comes from his family, who opened a Twitter account in June.

Following his conviction, Ross Ulbricht's mother, Lyn Ulbricht, launched the campaign.Free Ross UlbrichtAccuses the US government of using its son's case as part of a "failed war on drugs". The campaign describes the Ulbricht case as a milestone in the suppression of Internet freedom:

The Silk Road website was an e-commerce platform similar to that of eBay, where individual users choose what to sell and what to buy. Legally and illegally sold items, and usually small quantities of cannabis.

Ross is doomed to die in prison, not because he did drugs himself, but for a website that helped others do it. It is much harsher than punishing murderers, pedophiles, rapists and other violent people.

You may not believe Ulbricht and that he is not violent, as he has been charged with six separate cases of hired murder. Had he been found guilty of any of these charges, we could safely assume that he had a fairly harsh way of dealing with his competitors.

He was not found guilty though. None of the charges of murder appear in the sentence.

At the time of his conviction, however, family members of many people who have died from drugs bought through Silk Road appeared in court. These deaths are extremely significant but do not prove that Ross is a "violent" offender.

Ulbricht's lawyers and supporters believe he should not have been convicted of murder charges and that their existence influenced his conviction.
The court did not believe any of Ulbricht's allegations and presented "overwhelming evidence" that he was "prepared, like other drug lords, to protect his profits by paying large sums of money for the murders of people who threatened his business."

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.

One of them, former intelligence agent Shaun Bridges, In September 2015, he pleaded guilty the theft of bitcoins from Silk Road, while the other former DEA agent, Carl Force, was sentenced to six years again for stealing bitcoins from Ulbricht.

Fyi, I've been dictating my tweets over the phone and they get posted word for word. Then the comments get printed and arrive in the mail a few days later. So far, so good, but if the prison goes on an extended lockdown, I'll have to send my tweets out via snail mail.

- Ross Ulbricht (@RealRossU) July 27th, 2018

Thank you everyone. You are amazing! 😃 pic.twitter.com/mvGHqmINvm

- Ross Ulbricht (@RealRossU) August 10