US president Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the cybercriminal mastermind who founded Silk Road and pioneered the drug trade’s move into cyberspace. Ulbricht was serving life without parole after he was found guilty in 2015 of conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. On Wednesday, after over a decade in the dungeons, Ross finally came home.
After over a decade in the dungeons, Ross has finally came home
“Free Ross” had become a rallying cry for the libertarians and cryptocurrency enthusiasts whose vote Trump had been courting. But his pardon exposes some glaring contradictions in American politics.
Ross launched the Silk Road, named after the ancient trade route linking the West to the Orient, in 2011; in doing so, he revolutionised the narcotics industry. Whereas once you needed to know the likes of Stringer Bell (Idris Elba’s ruthless consigliere in The Wire) to buy or sell illicit substances, now all you needed was an internet connection.
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