Silk Road drug website founder jailed

[Haze-e]

I thought he also put out a hit on his competitors and their families as well?

Is this the same guy from the long transcript posted on here at one point?

[Mr. Martinez]

This man's story is incredible.

 

He will not die in prison.

 

An amazing human.

 

It's very difficult to find out the real story but you can definitely get an insight if you look hard enough. I encourage everyone to. It's nothing short of fascinating, down the last minute when he was arrested in that coffeeshop.

 

/

 

Rippy... can you elaborate on what happened to your friend? Was he reselling online? Just buying for personal use?

[Creed Diskenth]

Ross Ulbricht, the man behind illegal online drug emporium Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday by Judge Katherine Forrest of Manhattan’s US district court for the southern district of New York.

Before the sentencing the parents of the victims of drug overdoses addressed the court. Ulbricht broke down in tears. “I never wanted that to happen,” he said. “I wish I could go back and convince myself to take a different path.”

The 31-year-old physics graduate and former boy scout was handed five sentences: one for 20 years, one for 15 years, one for five and two for life. All are to be served concurrently with no chance of parole.

The judge handed out the most severe sentence available to the man US authorities identified as “Dread Pirate Roberts”, pseudonymous founder of an Amazon-like online market for illegal goods.

“The stated purpose [of Silk Road] was to be beyond the law. In the world you created over time, democracy didn’t exist. You were captain of the ship, the dread Pirate Roberts. You made your own laws,” Forrest told Ulbricht as she read the sentence.

 

Ulbrict had begged the judge to “leave a light at the end of the tunnel” ahead of his sentence. “I know you must take away my middle years, but please leave me my old age,” he wrote to Forrest this week. Prosecutors wrote Forrest a 16-page letter requesting the opposite: “[A] lengthy sentence, one substantially above the mandatory minimum is appropriate in this case.”

“I’ve changed. I’m not the man I was when I created Silk Road. I’m a little wiser. A little more mature and much more humble,” Ulbricht pled in court.

Forrest rejected arguments that Silk Road had reduced harm among drug users by taking illegal activities off the street. “No drug dealer from the Bronx has ever made this argument to the court. It’s a privileged argument and it’s an argument made by one of the privileged,” she said.

 

Silk Road was once the largest “dark web” marketplace for illegal drugs and other services. In March 2013 the secret site listed 10,000 items for sale, 7,000 of which were drugs including cannabis, MDMA and heroin. Prosecutors said Silk Road had generated nearly $213.9m (£140m) in sales and $13.2m in commissions before police shut it down.

Ulbricht was convicted in February after a four-week trial on all seven counts, from selling narcotics and money laundering to maintaining an “ongoing criminal enterprise”, a charge usually reserved for mob kingpins. Prosecutors said that he had gone so far as to solicit six murders for hire, although no charges were ever brought.

Throughout the trial, the defense suggested that Ulbricht was the victim of a complex hacking attack that left him looking like the fall guy. Given the evidence presented against Ulbricht, the pitch proved a hard sell to the jury.

Ulbricht was arrested in the science fiction section of his public library, “literally caught with his fingers at the keyboard, running Silk Road”, said the prosecution in its opening statement. He was logged in to the Silk Road master account, according to the agents who arrested him, and investigators found chat logs and other evidence on the hard drive that implicated him.

Forrest said she had taken special care to read the reams of documents sent to her in Ulbricht’s support, and that while it was unusual to do so, she wanted to address them at the sentencing, particularly those who’d said that an online drug marketplace reduced the violence of the drug trade.

 

After his conviction, Ulbricht’s defense argued that the Silk Road was in fact a boon to the health of its clients, especially those who habitually used drugs. Forrest found none of the arguments convincing.

“Silk Road created [users] who hadn’t tried drugs before,” Forrest said, adding that Silk Road “expands the market” and places demand on drug-producing (and violent) areas in Afghanistan and Mexico that grow the poppies used for heroin.

“The idea that it is harm-reducing is so narrow, and aimed at such a privileged group of people who are using drugs in the privacy of their own homes using their personal internet connections”, she said.

Two parents of children (identified only by their first names and last initials) who had died while using drugs obtained on Silk Road spoke to the court. Richard B., whose 25-year-old son died of a heroin overdose, expressed his anger at the people who have defended Ulbricht publicly. “Since Mr Ulbricht’s arrest, we have endured the persistent drumbeat of his supporters and their insistence that Silk Road was victimless,” he said. “I strongly believe that my son would be here today if Silk Road had never existed.”

Vicky B, whose 16-year-old son died after taking a powerful synthetic at a party and jumping from a second-story roof, said that the time since her son’s death had been unbearable. “This is the photo of the last kiss from my son,” she said, holding up a photo of herself with her son Preston before the school ball where he died.

“We keep Preston’s ashes at home,” she said, her voice breaking. “Sometimes I just hold them. Sometimes I get under a blanket with them and try to get warm.”

 

 

[Yuri]

Forrest said, adding that Silk Road “expands the market” and places demand on drug-producing (and violent) areas in Afghanistan and Mexico that grow the poppies used for heroin.

“The idea that it is harm-reducing is so narrow, and aimed at such a privileged group of people who are using drugs in the privacy of their own homes using their personal internet connections”, she said.

^this

Can't believe how narrow minded/oblivious all these idiots saying "but it's harmless" are. Just cos you don't have to risk getting your drugs off some black boy doesn't mean that there aren't people being held in slavery and murdered in third world countries over your Friday night sniff

[dub]

^ but lets not pretend that that thinking is the reason why such a harsh sentence was placed on him

[Zizouz]

Forrest said, adding that Silk Road “expands the market” and places demand on drug-producing (and violent) areas in Afghanistan and Mexico that grow the poppies used for heroin.

“The idea that it is harm-reducing is so narrow, and aimed at such a privileged group of people who are using drugs in the privacy of their own homes using their personal internet connections”, she said.

^this

Can't believe how narrow minded/oblivious all these idiots saying "but it's harmless" are. Just cos you don't have to risk getting your drugs off some black boy doesn't mean that there aren't people being held in slavery and murdered in third world countries over your Friday night sniff

How's this any different to conflict minerals or sweatshops?

[Mr. Martinez]

You two actually believe Silk Road would've had an impact on drug production across the world?

 

wow 

 

The illegal drug trade is one of the biggest in the world. Those drugs are getting sold with or without silk road. Whether they're legal or not. How do you not realise this after 60 years of this crap?

[Yung bawse]

Truss, Mexican cartels didn't harm 1 single extra person due to the Silk Road website, stop it

[Yuri]

It's not about harming "extra" people

It's about certain people saying that he made the drug trade "harmless", when actually it only made it harmless in a very narrow sense, ie for the consumers in rich developed countries. Anybody involved in consuming drugs, unless you grew it yourself, is most likely indirectly responsible for the misery of people involved in the drug economy in places like Bolivia, Colombia etc.

If it makes you feel better to tell yourself that that's not the case, or that buying it through the internet makes it more harmless then that's your perogative but that doesn't make it true. Pretty that Silk Road didn't have a FairTrade agreement with it's suppliers

So, no, he's not some hero. He was a drug trafficker no better than any other drug trafficker

[Yuri]

.

[Yuri]

Forrest said, adding that Silk Road “expands the market” and places demand on drug-producing (and violent) areas in Afghanistan and Mexico that grow the poppies used for heroin.

“The idea that it is harm-reducing is so narrow, and aimed at such a privileged group of people who are using drugs in the privacy of their own homes using their personal internet connections”, she said.

^this

Can't believe how narrow minded/oblivious all these idiots saying "but it's harmless" are. Just cos you don't have to risk getting your drugs off some black boy doesn't mean that there aren't people being held in slavery and murdered in third world countries over your Friday night sniff

How's this any different to conflict minerals or sweatshops?

It's not that different. Did I say it was?

I personally avoid buying in places like Primark cause it makes me uncomfortable. I'm not in green peace and I don't go to all limits to avoid endorsing these types of products but where I have a choice I won't buy stuff made in sweatshops

[SLEAZE BALL]

Truss, Mexican cartels didn't harm 1 single extra person due to the Silk Road website, stop it

[Yung bawse]

ok you're saying it doesn't make it any less harmful which I agree with

But the site is still only a grain of sand on the beach of what the drugs industry is and the sentence is ridiculous

[Yuri]

And if mirder someone, that's only one person. That's a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of people murdered every year. Why should I go to jail?

[Mr. Martinez]

Many groups of people are adversely affected by the legal status of drugs across the world.

 

'Rich' users in developed countries are one group.

 

Poor farmers across the world are another.

 

You're saying that because he only helped the first group with his idea, that his punishment is justified? ie - because he wasn't selling free trade cocaine? 

[Zizouz]

 

 

Forrest said, adding that Silk Road “expands the market” and places demand on drug-producing (and violent) areas in Afghanistan and Mexico that grow the poppies used for heroin.

“The idea that it is harm-reducing is so narrow, and aimed at such a privileged group of people who are using drugs in the privacy of their own homes using their personal internet connections”, she said.

^this

Can't believe how narrow minded/oblivious all these idiots saying "but it's harmless" are. Just cos you don't have to risk getting your drugs off some black boy doesn't mean that there aren't people being held in slavery and murdered in third world countries over your Friday night sniff

How's this any different to conflict minerals or sweatshops?

It's not that different. Did I say it was?

I personally avoid buying in places like Primark cause it makes me uncomfortable. I'm not in green peace and I don't go to all limits to avoid endorsing these types of products but where I have a choice I won't buy stuff made in sweatshops

 

I weren't tryin to get at you personally

 

just seems hypocritical sending this man to jail, where as others aint even seeing a court room

 

HSBC been known to launder money for a drug cartel and afaik no one's been charged

 

but you pretty much cleared up what you were getting at in another post

[ag.]

definitely a *statement* sentence. (cause celebre) he is an example..

remember when silk road was poppin circa 2k11

/

its already been replaced by a couple others tho....

[dub]

Thing is Yuri's arguing that the Silk Road guy's no different to other traffickers. And that any harm reduction that may have come by it being online was negligible.

 

That's a fair opinion, but he has been treated differently. His sentence is way higher than people who've done more damage and shifted more product and earned more.

[Mr. Martinez]

To say it is negligible is not fair at all.

 

His idea helped a lot of people. And to say that is irrelevant because it didn't help everyone is a silly point. 

[dub]

I dunno. Lets for a minute ignore the people who wouldn't have got the drugs if Silk Road didn't exist and they weren't easy to get hold of.

Would people who switched from buying from their dealers or wholesalers, to buying from Silk Road - have been in much less way of harm because of it coming through the net/delivered directly?

[Mr. Martinez]

of course. It gives drug users an opportunity to protect themselves not only from violence but from contaminants.

[Mr. Martinez]

Here's a website that has the whole story of silkroad documented

http://antilop.cc/sr/index.html

A lot of info, but interesting if you know what you're looking for

Here's some articls that give a nice context to the manner in which this trial was conducted

How Ross Ulbricht's Defense Was Derailed

On the fourth day of the Silk Road trial, the proceedings nearly ground to a halt. Every question in cross-examination was punctuated by “Objection!” The prosecutor would get up halfway from his chair each time. He barely had a moment to settle in before he popped back up again. Up. Down. Up. Down.

“Objection to form.” “Objection. Foundation. “Objection, hearsay.” “Objection.” “Same objection.”

The judge sustained some, but overruled most of the objections.

She was annoyed. The defense was annoyed. The press gallery was annoyed. By the time the lunch break rolled around, Judge Forrest struggled to hold back her irritation. “I’m not suggesting the government doesn’t have a right to object,” she said. But, “I think that there are objections which are objections that you really need to make, and then there are objections where there certainly may be a legal basis for it, but the better part of valor is to stand down.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2015/02/03/the-silk-road-trial-that-wasnt/

Criminal Charges Against Agents Reveal Staggering Corruption in the Silk Road Investigation

Two of the law enforcement agents involved in the tangled multi-agency investigation into the Silk Road have been charged by the Department of Justice for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars (at the very least) in bitcoin. The criminal complaint against former DEA agent Carl Mark Force IV and former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges alleges money laundering, wire fraud, theft of government property, and more. But more shockingly, it tells the story of a sprawling case tainted by an unbelievable web of corruption. A state’s witness took the fall for an agent’s theft, thus becoming the target for a murder-for-hire—a murder that was then faked by the same agent. The Silk Road case was compromised again and again as Force and Bridges allegedly took every opportunity to embezzle and steal money. With so much bitcoin on their hands, the two had to coax various bitcoin and payments companies to help convert their ill-gotten gains to dollars. When companies resisted, investigations were launched, subpoenas were issued, and civil forfeitures were sought in retaliation.

The investigation into Force and Bridges began around May 2014, nearly a year after the arrest of Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht was convicted this February of operating the Silk Road marketplace under the moniker “the Dread Pirate Roberts.” The criminal complaint alleges that Force and Bridges not only managed to siphon off bitcoins into their personal accounts while conducting undercover operations on the Silk Road, but Force also adopted a series of different personas on the Silk Road that switched off between extorting Ulbricht/DPR and selling him information from inside the federal investigation. Under the handles “Nob” and “French Maid,” Force sold DPR information that he had supposedly acquired from a corrupt government agent, while under the handle “Death from Above,” he used information from inside the investigation to extort DPR for bitcoins.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2015/03/31/force-and-bridges/

[Yung bawse]

And if mirder someone, that's only one person. That's a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of people murdered every year. Why should I go to jail?

Because you've directly premedited to take another persons life and 1 murder is rarely life without parole ... He made a website which gave access to other people CHOOSING to get involved in illegal actions they would of done anyway , dunno how you're trying to compare the 2, the sentence is stupidly harsh to say the least

[Yung bawse]

I dunno. Lets for a minute ignore the people who wouldn't have got the drugs if Silk Road didn't exist and they weren't easy to get hold of.

Would people who switched from buying from their dealers or wholesalers, to buying from Silk Road - have been in much less way of harm because of it coming through the net/delivered directly?

But let's get real, people who haven't ever tried drugs haven't come across the website (which you wouldn't just 'come across' anyway) and thought "let me try that".. Anyone who is buying drugs off the website have already taken the drugs before, whether it be through a dealer or through a friend..the website doesn't do anything except safeguard professional people's identities so they don't get exposed

Drugs are everywhere and so are dealers, all in shapes, sizes, colours and classes.. If anything the site just made it easier for the dealers

[ag.]

yeah but what dealer do u know who at any one time has every single drug and loads of other illegal shit. like argos or something of contraband lol

i completely understand why there making an example of this guy