Ross Ulbricht, known by the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts”, will turn the page after spending more than ten years behind bars. Arrested in 2013 and sentenced in 2015 to life in prison in 2015, he was accused of having created and directed Silk Road, an online sales platform specializing in illegal products: drugs, false papers, hacking services …
Silk Road, UN Pilier You Dark Web
Donald Trump, announcing the news on his Truth Social network, did not chew his words. “” The sentence was ridiculous “, He launched, accusing the judges and prosecutors of the time of having wanted to make an example. The old (and the new) president claims to have acted in honor of the libertarian movement, which actively campaigned for the release of Ulbricht and for the election of Trump.
This grace is not a surprise: Trump had made a promise during his 2024 presidential campaign. “” If I am elected, Ross will be free from the first day He said. Promise held, to the satisfaction of many supporters, including Angela Mcardle, president of the Libertarian Party, who praised ” A victory for freedom (And crime too, suddenly).
Launched in 2011, Silk Road marked the beginnings of an e-commerce much less wise than that of Amazon. Accessible only via the TOR network and operating thanks to bitcoins, the site made it possible to buy anonymously everything that was illegal: drugs, malicious software, falsified documents … The FBI closed it in 2013, but not before the platform n ' Attracted nearly a million users worldwide.
American justice had then made Ulbricht a symbol of the fight against cybercrime. During his trial, prosecutors put everything on the table: overdose of several consumers, laundering hundreds of millions of dollars, and even commanded murders – although never executed.
-For its detractors, this life prison sentence was above all a way to discourage possible imitators. But the defenders of Ulbricht denounced a too severe judgment. “” Ross did not kill, he did not sell drugs directly. He did not deserve such a penalty “, Argued his loved ones.
Trump's presidential forgiveness relaunches the debate on justice and sanctions related to cybercrime. If some greet a strong gesture against a sentence they consider disproportionate, others fear a disturbing signal. By climbing Ross Ulbricht, does Trump give carte blanche to future web pirates?
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