Silk Road founder thanks US president for ‘amazing blessing’ in video message after his release from prison.
Ross Ulbricht, the dark-web marketplace founder pardoned by United States President Donald Trump, has spoken about his release from prison for the first time.
Ulbricht, 40, was sentenced to two life sentences, plus 40 years, in 2015 for running Silk Road, an illicit online market that US prosecutors said facilitated $183m in drug sales using Bitcoin.
Trump on Tuesday issued Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon, fulfilling a campaign promise to libertarians and cryptocurrency enthusiasts who had lobbied for his release.
In a video message posted on X on Friday, Ulbricht expressed his gratitude to Trump for granting him clemency.
“I was doing life without parole, and I was locked up for more than 11 years but he let me out. I’m a free man now. So let it be known that Donald Trump is a man of his word,” he said.
“Thank you so much, President Trump, for giving me this amazing blessing. I am so, so grateful to have my life back, to have my future back, to have a second chance.”
Ulbricht said he planned to spend time with his family but would have more to say in the future.
“This is a victory and it’s your victory, too. And this is an important moment for everybody, everywhere who loves freedom and who cares about second chances,” he said.
“It feels amazing to be free, to say the least. It’s overwhelming.”
— Ross Ulbricht (@RealRossU) January 24, 2025
Ulbricht’s case had been held up as an example of government overreach by libertarians and crypto supporters, who argued that he had been unfairly prosecuted for transactions made by other people and that his punishment did not fit the crime.
Ulbricht’s lawyers also argued that although he had created the site, he handed off control to others after just a few months and had been lured back as a fall guy just as authorities were closing in.
Announcing his pardon, Trump branded Ulbricht’s punishment “ridiculous” and said those responsible for his prosecution were some of the “same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponisation of government against me”.
US prosecutors cast Ulbricht as a criminal mastermind driven by a desire for money and power, and alleged that drugs sold on his site had caused the deaths of six people.
Prosecutors also alleged that Ulbricht had solicited the murders of people he viewed as threats to his operation, though he was not convicted of any such crime and no evidence was presented that anyone had actually been killed.
While some Republicans known for espousing libertarian views hailed Trump’s pardon, the move drew condemnation from a number of Democratic legislators.
“Pardoning drug trafficking kingpins is a slap in the face to the families who’ve lost loved ones to his crimes,” Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said in a post on X.
“Donald Trump should have to explain to them how any of this makes America safer. It’s an outrage.”
