United States President Donald Trump declared a pardon for the founder of the underground illicit drugs marketplace Silk Road as part of a raft of sweeping announcements during the first two days of his new administration.
Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets.
Mr Trump on Wednesday said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that he had called Ulbricht’s mother to deliver the news of his pardon.
“The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me,” the president said.
“He was given two life sentences, plus four years. Ridiculous!”
Mr Trump had previously promised to help free Ulbricht during a speech in May last year at the Libertarian Party National Convention.
Libertarian activists, who generally oppose […]
This should be of no suprise. Trump indicated to the Libertarian Party convention that he would pardon him. Might we get a touch of Libertarianism at the Federal level? Doubtful, but still possible.
You doubtless had no problem with Biden’s many pardons and commutations so why in this case is it a problem? I believe that too many are sentenced to severe sentences in prison for non-violent offenses. Drugs use and other economic crimes given long sentences as an example to others instead of appropriate individual punishment, however that can be determined.
As an example, SBF was sentenced to 25 years for cryptocurrency fraud because the Masters of the Universe lost billions. Turns out markets that go down often come back up; when finally liquidated they made 118% on their losses. SBF will stay in prison with a fine of $11B seems fair don’t you think? We as a society need to have a more mature reasoned approach to punishment but then we would have to reconsider retribution as an official policy.
Ross served more than enough time for his economic crimes. There are many marketplaces in our world that sell all sorts of goods from milk and eggs to 2000K pound bombs who should be punished for operating these businesses?