Trump Announces He Will Commute Sentence of Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht on Day One (VIDEO)

26.05.2024 04:45

President Trump made a huge announcement during his speech at the Libertarian National Convention.

During his speech, Trump told the crowd, “If you vote for me, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”

“He’s already served 11 years, we’re gonna get him home,” added Trump.

As Trump made the declaration, the crowd of Libertarians roared with applause and started to chant “Ross”.

In 2015, Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for creating and operating the Silk Road.

The Silk Road was a dark web marketplace that used cryptocurrency as a currency to allow users to buy and sell goods anonymously.

Most of the goods sold on the Silk Road were illegal drugs.

WATCH:

BREAKING: Donald Trump announces he would commute the sentence of Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht on day one during his speech at the Libertarian National Convention. pic.twitter.com/wusFicqqUz

— ALX (@alx) May 26, 2024

Per Coin Desk:

Donald J. Trump has pledged to commute Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s life sentence to time served if he’s re-elected president.

“If you vote for me, on Day 1, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served,” Trump said during his Saturday night remarks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C. “He’s already served 11 years, we’re gonna get him home.”
In his evening address, Trump’s pledge to free Ulbricht was met with raucous cheers from the assembled audience, many of whom were holding up signs reading “Free Ross.”

In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years – effectively, life in prison without the possibility of parole – for creating and operating Silk Road. The now-defunct darknet marketplace was used to anonymously buy and sell goods, but was largely used for drugs. Silk Road operated from 2011 to 2013 and is widely considered the first real-world use case for Bitcoin.

Ulbricht has become something of a martyr for many in the crypto community, as well as to many Libertarians, who see Ulbricht’s draconian sentence as a governmental overstep and a violation of his constitutional rights. In 2018, the Libertarian Party called on then-President Trump to pardon Ulbricht.