Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for masterminding an online marketplace for illegal drugs and hacking services.
“The scum that worked to convict him [Ulbricht] were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me,” Trump wrote in post on Truth Social late on Tuesday.
During Ulbricht’s trial, US prosecutors said that he had built the anonymous marketplace, known as Silk Road, to exploit the anonymity of the dark web and digital currency bitcoin.
At the time, the case attracted the attention of bitcoin evangelists and libertarian groups who claimed the government was trying to turn web hosting into a criminal activity.
Announcing the pardon, Trump said it was “in honour of the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly”.
Trump had pledged to pardon Ulbricht, who was arrested in 2013, at Libertarian political party’s national convention last May.
Source link
