By
Bhushan Akolkar
January 26th, 2024
Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, who is currently serving his double life sentence, wrote to Roger Ver and asked his help in getting clemency.
More than 4 years ago, in 2014-2015 the community was actively discussing the situation with a sadly-known dark web marketplace Silk Road and its founder Ross Ulbricht. For running the website that was created in 2011 and intended for a range of illegal including drugs and hacking guides, Ulbricht was found guilty on all seven counts by a Manhattan jury.
Background
The site was comparatively widely used, and one of the reason if its popularity was the fact that people could buy things anonymously which was ensured by the opportunity to pay in Bitcoin.
Ulbricht was accused of being engaged in money laundering activities, drug trafficking, computer hacking and participating in a continuing criminal enterprise. For all these crimes he was sentenced to double life imprisonment and then a further 40 years without a possibility of parole. The federal judge in charge denied him After to appeal his sentence.
New Attempt
All Ulbricht’s attempts to ask the court to review his case failed and he decided to change his strategy. Serving his life imprisonment at the United States Penitentiary Florence High in Colorado, he decided to write a letter to Roger Ver, a world-famous Bitcoin Jesus, and ask for his help in getting clemency.
Ulbricht pointed out that he had practically lost his hope but there is still one more option – a presidential pardon. And in his letter, he asked Ver and other crypto gurus to support hem. He wrote:
“Today I’m writing on a different topic, seeking for your help. Despite your generous assistance throughout my legal battles, especially at first when very few were coming to my aid. I have lost time and time again in court. We give it a great effort, but there’s little chance of winning no matter how much money and talent goes into it. Now my best hope is convincing the president to commute my sentence.”
Support from Crypto Community
Though Ross has never been a direct proponent of cryptocurrency, Silk Road was a link between the digital currency and the real world. As a result, Ulbricht has managed to win the support of the entire crypto community and a great number of its members have already expressed their desire to help him.
Ulbricht hopes that via the support of the crypto community he will win a presidential pardon. That’s why he tries to encourage Ver and other influential crypto experts to create videos aimed at convincing the U.S. President Donald Trump to grant his pardon to the founder of Silk Road.
But it’s not the first step to getting clemency. A campaign in support of Ross Ulbricht is already under its way. A petition on the Change.org website has already received approximately 115,000 signatures. Moreover, Eric Brakey, a Maine State Senator, as well as the U.S. Libertarian Party supported the campaign.