PUNITIVE JUSTICE

In the two years Silk Road was operational, its mastermind was simply known as “Dread Pirate Roberts” (DPR). While DPR naturally kept his identity hidden, particularly once feds zeroed in on Silk Road and began trying to unmask him, it was evident that he was intelligent and enamoured with libertarian economic theory. But beyond that, the man remained a mystery.

All that changed on October 1, 2013, when feds converged on a San Francisco public library and arrested DPR as his open laptop was logged in to Silk Road. Dread Pirate Roberts was revealed to be Ross Ulbricht and law enforcement were swift to toast the takedown of the internet’s notorious drugs marketplace and the capture of its 29-year-old operator.

Two-Tier Justice and Parallel Construction

The feds might have had their man in custody and the Silk Road site triumphantly emblazoned with a “seized” notice but the story was just getting started. In the following years, a complex and incredible tale would unfold in the courts and across mainstream media. It was one replete with double-crossing, blackmail, murder for hire, accusations of federal malfeasance, concealed evidence, and claims of two-tier justice.

It emerged that as U.S. law enforcement were working around the clock to bring down Silk Road, two of their agents were pursuing separate criminal agendas that were arguably much worse than anything DPR had done given the abuse of trust their actions represented. Not only did they impair the reputation of the agencies whose badges they wore, but the pair risked jeopardising the entire case against Ross Ulbricht.

There was also evidence produced at Ross’s subsequent trial suggesting that feds used “parallel construction,” hiding the true means by which they identified the servers hosting Silk Road to the disadvantage of his defence team. It was to no avail: the U.S. was intent on throwing the book at Ross, and wasn’t going to let him escape on a technicality. Besides, the other evidence against the Texan was overwhelming: he’d made a number of opsec errors over the years that had led the feds to his door.

On February 4, 2015, after just over three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict against Ross Ulbricht on all seven counts. Three months later, Judge Katherine Forrest sentenced Ross – a 31-year-old first-time, non-violent offender – to two life sentences plus 40 years to be served concurrently without the possibility of parole.

That ought to have been the end of the matter. But instead of marking closure on the Silk Road saga, the conviction triggered a new round of arrests, recriminations, and Silk Road clones, while keeping true crime podcasters and filmmakers occupied for years. The conviction also kept the Bitcoin community busy as many of its leading figures joined the “Free Ross” clemency campaign. Meanwhile, Silk Road continued to periodically resurface in the courts as various fringe operators were convicted for their role – as were the two dodgy cops. Unlike Ross, however, they would be free again in just a few years.

The Free Ross campaign garnered significant support, including an online petition that collected over 600,000 signatures and endorsements from a diverse coalition of libertarians and conservatives including Charlie Kirk, who argued that Ulbricht’s life-without-parole sentence was excessive.

Led by Ross’s mother, Lyn Ulbricht, the campaign continued apace over the years, despite incumbent presidents showing little interest in pardoning the first offender. But on January 21, 2025, after taking office for the second time, President Donald Trump granted Ross Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon. It was a happy end to a tragic story that gave lifer Ross Ulbricht a second chance at life as a free man.