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Those murder-for-hire charges, in fact, dissuaded the first Trump administration from granting clemency to Ulbricht: The White House in 2020 considered releasing Ulbricht, but ultimately rejected the idea because of the alleged role of violence in the case, according to an ex. government official involved in the process who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity.
Since then, however, the Trump administration has changed its stance on Ulbricht’s case — in part, perhaps, because of its embrace of the libertarian cryptocurrency community, for which Ulbricht has become a martyr and cause célèbre . At the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC last May, presidential candidate Trump he promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence “the first day” if re-elected. (In the end, the first day passed without mercy for Ulbricht, even as Trump has pardoned more than a thousand participants in the uprising on January 6, 2021 at the United States Capitol, although Trump’s ally Elon Musk promised in a mail to X on Monday night that “Ross will be released as well.”)
What role Ulbricht will play in the free world is far from clear. Even in his statement to the judge at his sentencing hearing in 2015, Ulbricht never fully acknowledged the harm inflicted by the Silk Road drug trade and showed little remorse for his actions in his public places at X, Jared Der-Yeghiayan, a former Patria. The FBI agent who infiltrated the Silk Road investigation as part of the case against Ulbricht told WIRED in November
“The idea of him being released doesn’t bother me in the least,” says Der-Yeghiayan, who now works as head of strategic intelligence at cryptocurrency tracking company Chainalysis. “I’m worried if there is now a perception that he did nothing wrong, that he doesn’t recognize the facts of the case.”
Among some advocates of criminal justice reform, however, Ulbricht has become an example of excessive sentencing, particularly given that he was technically charged with nonviolent crimes. “Ross has served more than enough time. He has been a model prisoner. He is a first-time, non-violent offender. He poses zero safety risk to the community,” Alice Johnson, CEO of the justice reform foundation Taking Action for Good told WIRED in November. Johnson, spent two decades in prison herself for drug trafficking before her life sentence was commuted by Trump in 2018. “I believe Ross’s case will pave the way for many others who have been unjustly these draconian sentences to return home.”
On Tuesday night, Ulbricht’s supporters celebrated his freedom and expressed their gratitude to Trump for his clemency. “Words cannot express how grateful we are,” read a tweet from @Free_Ross, an X account dedicated to the more than decade-long effort on Ulbricht’s behalf. “President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross’ life. ROSS is a free man!!!”
Additional report from Joel Khalili
