As Americans and the world grapple with how last week's election will reshape the next four years and beyond, few have as much personally at stak

Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Is Waiting for Trump to Keep His Word—and Set Him Free

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2024-11-14 20:30:06

As Americans and the world grapple with how last week's election will reshape the next four years and beyond, few have as much personally at stake from a new presidential administration as one 40-year-old man in a federal penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona. For Ross Ulbricht, creator of the legendary dark web drugs market known as Silk Road, who has been in prison since 2013, a Donald Trump presidency could mean the difference between freedom and a lifetime in a cell.

“Immense gratitude to everyone who voted for President Trump on my behalf. I trust him to honor his pledge and give me a second chance,” Ulbricht wrote on X one week after the election, through an account controlled by his wife. “After 11+ years in darkness, I can finally see the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel. Thank you so much, @realDonaldTrump. 🙏”

After the government identified Ulbricht the administrator behind Silk Road’s cryptoanarchic marketplace and arrested him in an FBI sting in late 2013, Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 on seven charges relating to money laundering, computer hacki and the distribution of narcotics and sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Nearly nine years later, at the Libertarian National Convention this May, then-presidential candidate Trump promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence “on day one” if reelected, letting him walk free. There were cheers from the audience—many waving “Free Ross” signs—for the former dark web mastermind, who has become a cause célèbre in the cryptocurrency and libertarian worlds.

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