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In fact, these murder-for-hire allegations dissuaded the first Trump administration from granting a pardon to Ulbricht: The White House in 2020 considered paroling Ulbricht but ultimately rejected the idea because of the alleged role of violence in the case, according to one former official. A government official involved in the operation spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity.
However, since then, the Trump administration has changed its stance on Ulbricht’s case — perhaps in part due to its embrace of the libertarian cryptocurrency community, for which Ulbricht has become a martyr and cause celebrity. At the Libertarian National Convention held in Washington, D.C., last May, then-presidential candidate Trump spoke He promised to reduce Ulbricht’s sentence “On Day One” if re-elected. (In the end, the first day passed without any compassion towards Ulbricht, even if… Trump pardoned more than a thousand participants In the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, despite Trump ally Elon Musk’s promise to… Post to X Monday evening that “Ross will also be released.”)
What role Ulbricht will play in the free world is far from clear. Even in his statement to the judge at his sentencing hearing in 2015, Ulbricht never fully acknowledged the harm that drug sales had caused on Silk Road, and still showed little remorse for his actions in his public posts to X, Jared Der Yejiayan, a former . The security investigations agent who infiltrated Silk Road undercover as part of the case against Ulbricht told WIRED in November
“The idea of him being released doesn’t bother me at all,” says Der Yejiayan, who now works as head of strategic intelligence at cryptocurrency tracking firm Chainalysis. “I am disturbed if there is a perception now that he did nothing wrong, which does not acknowledge the facts of the case.”
However, among some criminal justice reform advocates, Ulbricht became a model of over-sentencing, especially since he was technically charged with non-violent crimes. “Ross has served more than enough time. He has been a model prisoner. He is a nonviolent first-time offender. He poses no danger,” Alice Johnson, CEO of the justice reform organization Take Action for Good, told WIRED in November. “On the safety of the community.” Johnson, who spent two decades in prison on drug trafficking charges before Trump commuted her life sentence in 2018. “I believe the Ross case will pave the way for many other people who were wrongly sentenced.” “With these harsh sentences to return home.”
Tuesday night, Ulbricht’s supporters celebrated his freedom and expressed their gratitude to Trump for his clemency. “Words cannot express how grateful we are,” said a tweet from @Free_Ross, an X account dedicated to more than a decade of efforts on behalf of Ulbricht. “President Trump is a man of his word and just saved a Russian life. Ross is a free man!!!!!
Additional reports by Joel Khalili
