President Donald Trump is expected to pardon Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the now-defunct dark web marketplace Silk Road, according to sources close to the White House. This pardon would vacate Ulbricht’s current life sentence.
The Post has learned from a White House source that the pardon is “incoming” and expected soon. This information is corroborated by Ulbricht’s clemency lawyer, Brandon Sample, who stated in an email on Tuesday, “We do expect President Trump to grant clemency.”
Ulbricht, now 40, was arrested in San Francisco in October 2013. He was accused of operating Silk Road, a website notorious for facilitating the sale of illegal drugs and other illicit goods using Bitcoin as payment, under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.”
In February 2015, Ulbricht was convicted on multiple charges, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking conspiracies. He subsequently received two life sentences plus 40 years in May of that year. Ulbricht is currently incarcerated in a maximum-security prison in Arizona. His appeals against the conviction and sentence, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, have been unsuccessful.
This anticipated pardon follows a campaign promise made by then-candidate Trump in May. He vowed to commute Ulbricht’s sentence to “time served” if he won the 2024 election. This pledge resonated with many Libertarians, who view Ulbricht as a champion of free markets. Supporters of Ulbricht were seen holding “Free Ross” signs at the Libertarian National Convention during a Trump speech.
