Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, the website known for the online sale of drugs and other illegal substances, was sentenced to life imprisonment. This was decided by a federal court in New York, which in February had found the 31 year old Texas native guilty of all seven counts of indictment against him, among them drug trafficking on the internet, conspiracy to traffic drugs, laundering money. The judge also ordered that Ulbricht pay compensation of $ 184 million to the government.
His site, created in 2011, before closing in 2013 had generated $ 187 million, although the United States They estimate that the total turnover behind Silk Road was of $ 1.2 billion. “The main objective of Silk Road was to be above the law. In the world you have created democracy did not exist. You were the captain of the ship, the Dread Pirate Roberts, “said the judge who pronounced the sentence referring to the nickname by which the 31 year old was known on the internet. “Do not have the profile of a criminal, but you’re a criminal,” the judge continued. Ulbricht had said shortly before the ruling the judge to “be a new person, to be changed” compared to when the family ran the site. “I do not think you are aware that your behavior with you hurt so many people, I do not know if you have regrets,” replied the judge in the judgment. Now the defense will try to appeal against the sentence which he called “unreasonable, unjust and unfair”.
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Inside the court there were also the parents of people who died of overdoses that they would speak to Ulbricht who would burst into tears:” I did not want this to happen, ” He said referring to the death of people. Last week 97 Ulbricht and his friends had written a letter to the judge asking for the shortest possible sentence, 20 years in prison. “Only now I realized the big mistake I made. I spent my youth and I know I have to take my middle-aged, but please let my old age. Please let a little light at the end of the tunnel, an excuse to stay healthy, an excuse to dream better days, a chance to redeem myself in the free world before going to meet those who created me, “wrote the 31 year old in his letter .
Ulbricht had been arrested in a library in San Francisco as a federal agent on October 1, 2013. At that time he was using his computer on the platform created by him, exchanging messages with an FBI agent coverage. Silk Road was only accessible through Tor, a system that protects users by giving them anonymity. The payments were done only with Bitcoin. Referring to the judgment, instead it is a historic step for the United States for two reasons: it is the first time that the government has extended the offense of money laundering through Bitcoin. Furthermore, the process is the first time that a person is accused to have created a site. Many supporters of Ulbricht fear that the process could create a precedent and open the doors to the responsibility before the law for the platforms that host services, which should be protected by the Communications Decency Act of 1996.
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