By Chloé Harper Gold
“I know I’m his mother, but I honestly think he’s a wonderful person. He has a wonderful, sweet nature. He’s very laid back and easygoing. He’s a lot of fun. And he’s very funny; he’s got a very quick wit. I was on Twitter with some of his old friends and one of them said, “Ross is the least judgmental person I know.” And it’s true, you feel very safe with Ross. He just doesn’t judge people. He doesn’t care about where you come from, he just really gets to the person. And that has helped him a lot in prison.”
Despite her hectic schedule, Lyn Ulbricht has taken the time to talk to yet another journalist about her son. Ross Ulbricht has been described by the people in his life as altruistic and an idealist, creative and brilliant, and overwhelmingly kind and compassionate.
The narrative that federal prosecutors pushed painted him as a money-hungry drug kingpin who was also involved in murder-for-hire plots.
In 2011, at the age of 26 years old, Ross launched the groundbreaking (and now infamous) Tor-hosted and Bitcoin-fueled ecommerce platform Silk Road. Founded on libertarian economic principles, Silk Road allowed the private and anonymous sale and purchase of goods such as art, games, hardware, and books. It explicitly prohibited the listing of stolen goods, counterfeits, weapons, assassinations (yes, really), and child sex abuse imagery and related materials. Predictably, some users took advantage of the platform’s anonymity and sold and purchased illicit drugs—mostly cannabis for personal use, according to an analysis by Carnegie Mellon University.
Two years after Silk Road went live on “the dark web,” on October 1, 2013, Ross was arrested by the FBI in a public library in San Francisco. He was eventually charged with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, money laundering, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics. He had no prior arrests nor a history of violent behavior.
After a lengthy and emotionally draining trial, he was handed down two life sentences, plus forty years, without the possibility of parole.
If you think that…
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