President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a full and unconditional pardon of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the anonymous marketplace website Silk Road, which the president promised to do ‘on Day 1’ while on the campaign trail.
‘I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbri[c]ht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,’ Trump wrote in a social media post Tuesday. ‘The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!’
Ulbricht was convicted because his website, which was founded in 2011 and used cryptocurrency for payments, was used to sell illegal drugs, even though he did not sell any of the illicit substances himself.
In May, Trump delivered a speech at the Libertarian National Convention to a hostile crowd of boos in an attempt to win over Libertarian voters. Libertarians believe government investigators overreached in their case against Silk Road and generally oppose the war on drugs.
While the attendees were not favorable to Trump for most of the event, they did give a big cheer when he said he would commute Ulbricht’s sentence to time served, as the crowd chanted ‘Free Ross’ in hopes the presidential candidate would take action if elected to allow the Silk Road founder to return home to his family after more than a decade behind bars.
‘If you vote for me, on Day 1 I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served. He’s already served 11 years. We’re going to get him home,’ Trump told the crowd of Libertarians, many of whom were holding signs that said ‘Free Ross.’
Ulbricht reacted to Trump’s comments the following day on the social media platform X.
‘Last night, Donald Trump pledged to commute my sentence on day 1, if reelected,’ he wrote. ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. After 11 years in prison, it is hard to express how I feel at this moment. It is thanks to your undying support that I may get a second chance.’
Last month, Ulbricht wrote, ‘For my last monthly resolution of 2024, I intend to study every day and to get up to speed as much as I can as I prepare for freedom.’
Trump later reiterated his promise to commute Ulbricht’s life sentence at a bitcoin conference, which he received loud cheers for.
While Trump failed to deliver his promise to free Ulbricht on his first day back in office, he followed through on the second day.
Ulbricht, now 40, operated the website from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. He was sentenced two years later to life in prison.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.