In fact, those murder-for-hire charges previously prevented the Trump administration from granting clemency to Ulbricht. The White House considered freeing Ulbricht in 2020, but ultimately rejected the idea because of the alleged role of violence in the case, according to a former government official involved in the process who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity. Gave.
However, since then, the Trump administration has changed its stance on Ulbricht's case – partly, perhaps, due to its embrace of the liberal cryptocurrency community, for whom Ulbricht has become a martyr and cause celebrity. At the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C. last May, then-presidential candidate Trump Promised to reduce Ulbricht's sentence “On the first day” of re-election. (Eventually, the first day passed with no clemency for Ulbricht, even though Trump pardoned more than a thousand participants Insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, although Trump ally Elon Musk promised post on x on Monday evening that “Ross will also be freed.”)
It is unclear what role Ulbricht will play in the free world. Even in his statement to the judge during his sentencing hearing in 2015, Ulbricht never fully acknowledged the harm he caused from Silk Road's drug sales. And according to former Homeland Security Investigations agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan, who infiltrated Silk Road during the investigation, Ulbricht still shows little remorse for his actions in his public posts for X.
“The idea of him being released doesn’t bother me at all,” says Der-Yeghiyan, who now works as head of strategic intelligence at cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis. “It bothers me if the perception now becomes that he has done nothing wrong; It does not accept the facts of the case.”
However, among some proponents of criminal justice reform, Ulbricht has become an example of excessive sentencing, especially considering that he was technically charged with non-violent crimes. “Ross has served more than enough time. He has been a model prisoner. He is a first-time non-violent offender. He poses zero security risk to the community,” Alice Johnson, CEO of the justice reform foundation Taking Action for Good, told WIRED in November. Johnson spent two decades in prison for attempted possession with intent to distribute before Trump commuted his life sentence in 2018 and pardoned him in 2020. “I believe Ross's case is going to pave the way for many others who have been unjustly given this.” “Hard sentence to come home to.”
On Tuesday night, Ulbricht's supporters celebrated his freedom and expressed gratitude to Trump for his pardon. “Words cannot express how grateful we are,” read a tweet from @Free_Ross, an X account dedicated to the decade-long effort on Ulbricht's part. “President Trump is a man of his word and he saved Ross's life. Ross is a free man!!!!!”
Additional reporting by joel khalili