{"id":2253353,"date":"2024-05-26T11:39:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T15:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-is-ross-ulbricht-the-prison-inmate-who-could-be-key-to-trumps-libertarian-support\/"},"modified":"2024-05-26T11:41:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T15:41:48","slug":"who-is-ross-ulbricht-the-prison-inmate-who-could-be-key-to-trumps-libertarian-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-is-ross-ulbricht-the-prison-inmate-who-could-be-key-to-trumps-libertarian-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Ross Ulbricht, the incarcerated individual potentially vital for Trump&#8217;s libertarian backing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwho-is-ross-ulbricht-the-prison-inmate-who-could-be-key-to-trumps-libertarian-support%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2253353&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former US President Donald Trump suggested \u2062commuting the\u200b sentence of Ross Ulbricht at a\u200c Libertarian Party convention. Ross Ulbricht, a 40-year-old Texan, is currently serving life without parole\u200b in Tucson, AZ. He was convicted in 2015 for running the darknet market site Silk Road between 2011 and 2013. \u200bUlbricht,\u2064 aka &#8220;Dread \u2062Pirate Roberts,&#8221; created the site, inspired by libertarian economics. However, US law enforcement accuses Silk Road of being a vast \u2062illegal marketplace allowing 100,000 anonymous users to buy illicit goods and services, netting Ulbricht over $13 million. He was arrested in 2013 after a lengthy federal investigation into Silk Road.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> received a frosty reception at this weekend\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/libertarian-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Libertarian Party<\/a>\u2019s national convention, but one of his few applause lines was for promising to commute a sentence for a man named Ross Ulbricht.<\/p>\n<p>But who is Ulbricht?<\/p>\n<p>Ulbricht, 40, from Austin, Texas, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole in Tucson, Arizona, after he was convicted in 2015 for creating, owning, and operating the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 to 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/libertarianism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>libertarian<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/economy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>economic theory<\/a>, Ulbricht set up Silk Road under the pseudonym \u201cDread Pirate Roberts,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-switch\/wp\/2013\/10\/03\/everything-we-know-about-ross-ulbricht-the-outdoorsy-libertarian-behind-silk-road\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>writing<\/a> on his LinkedIn profile that the website would be \u201can economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force.\u201d But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/law-enforcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>U.S. law enforcement<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ice.gov\/news\/releases\/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-life-federal-prison-creating\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>described<\/a> Silk Road as \u201ca sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace\u201d and \u201csprawling black-market bazaar\u201d online for more than 100,000 anonymous users to buy unlawful goods and illegal services, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/drugs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>drugs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hacking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>computer hacking<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>forgery<\/a>, earning Ulbricht more than $13 million.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>FBI<\/a> arrested Ulbricht at a San Francisco Public Library in 2013 after a yearslong federal investigation into Silk Road, such as undercover operations by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dea\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, charged Ulbricht in 2014 with seven offenses for which he was sentenced after a four-week jury trial in 2015 in Manhattan, New York. They included distributing narcotics, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiring to distribute narcotics, engaging in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mexicos-former-top-law-enforcement-official-convicted-of-working-for-notorious-sinaloa-drug-cartel\/\" title=\"Mexico\u2019s Former Top Law Enforcement Official Convicted Of Working For Notorious Sinaloa Drug Cartel\">continuing criminal enterprise<\/a>, conspiring to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-congressman-admits-to-asking-trump-for-two-pardons\/\" title=\"Republican Congressman Admits To Asking Trump For Two Pardons\">commit computer hacking<\/a>, conspiring to traffic in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/boxing-management-company-shutting-lower-over-alleged-organized-crime-connection\/\" title=\"Boxing Management Company Shutting Lower Over Alleged Organized Crime Connection\">false identity documents<\/a>, and conspiring to commit money laundering.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to life imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest ordered Ulbricht to pay $184 million in restitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMake no mistake: Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people\u2019s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people,\u201d Bharara <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ice.gov\/news\/releases\/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-life-federal-prison-creating\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said at the time<\/a>. \u201cUlbricht went from hiding his cybercrime identity to becoming the face of cybercrime and as today\u2019s sentence proves, no one is above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ulbricht appealed Forrest\u2019s decision before the\u00a0U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit\u00a0in 2017 and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> in 2018, both of which failed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trump made the pledge to commute Ulbricht\u2019s sentence as part of his speech at the libertarian convention as he and independent candidate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a> pitched themselves to the party.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has an average 2 percentage point advantage over Biden when third party and independent contenders are taken into account, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/president\/general\/2024\/trump-vs-biden-vs-kennedy-vs-west-vs-stein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><em>RealClearPolitics<\/em><\/a>. That edge decreases to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/president\/general\/2024\/trump-vs-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>1 point<\/a> when polling respondents are not provided with the other options.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the Libertarian Party&#8217;s national convention, Ex-President Trump&#8217;s pledge to commute Ross Ulbricht&#8217;s sentence earned rare applause despite an overall cool response. So, who is Ulbricht? A 40-year-old from Austin, Texas, Ulbricht has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2652,"featured_media":2253354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24147051374081-1.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2253353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24147051374081-1.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2652"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2253353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2253354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2253353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2253353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2253353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}