Trump pardons Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht

US President Donald Trump said he had signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road, the dark web marketplace where illegal drugs were sold.

Ulbricht was convicted in 2015. in New York in a drug and money laundering conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her that he had pardoned her son.

Silk Road, which was shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ulbricht, sold illegal drugs using bitcoins as well as hacking equipment and stolen passports.

“The scum that worked to impeach him were some of the same lunatics that were involved in the modern weaponization of the government against me,” Trump said in a post online Tuesday night. “They got two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”

Ulbricht was found guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.

During his trial, prosecutors said Ulbricht’s website, hosted on the hidden “dark web”, had anonymously sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs.

He runs Silk Road under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts, a reference to a character from the 1987 film The Princess Bride.

Prosecutors said he also instigated six murders for hire, including one against a former Silk Road employee, although they said there was no evidence any killings actually took place.

The Silk Road got its name from the historic trade routes spanning Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.

The site gained notoriety through media coverage and online chat. But users could only access the site through Tor, a system that allows people to use the web without revealing who they are or what country they are in.

FBI court documents said the site had just under a million registered users, but investigators said they did not know how many were active.

Condemnation of Ulbricht – who has two university degrees – District Judge Catherine Forrest said he was “no better person than any other drug dealer”.

She said the site was his “carefully planned life’s work”.

The judge noted that the long sentence also served as a message to copycats that there would be “very serious consequences”.

“I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity,” Ulbricht said at his May 2015 sentencing.

Trump previously hinted that he planned to commute Ulbricht’s sentence during a speech last year at the Libertarian National Convention.

The Libertarian Party advocated for Ulbricht’s release and said his case was an example of government overreach.

Republican Congressman Thomas Massey, a Trump ally, applauded the president’s decision.

“Thank you for keeping your word to me and others who advocated for Ross’ freedom,” the Kentucky lawmaker said.