Investing.com — U.S. President Donald Trump has granted a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground online platform known for illicit trading. Ulbricht, 40, was serving a life sentence for facilitating more than $200 million in illegal transactions using the .
Ulbricht’s arrest in 2013 and subsequent conviction in 2015 marked a major US prosecution, coming just years after the rise of popular crypto. The Silk Road platform was a hotspot for drug traffickers and others engaging in illegal activities.
The presidential pardon, announced Tuesday, fulfills a campaign promise made by the Republican president. In a statement on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump criticized those involved in Ulbricht’s conviction. He called them “scum” and linked them to what he described as “the modern instrumentalization of government” against him.
-This pardon expunges the charges against Ulbricht, making it both complete and unconditional, according to President Trump’s statement.
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