Claimed mastermind of Silk Road drug-sale website gets life without parole, is ordered to pay $183M
Image from Shutterstock.
The claimed mastermind of a hidden website that the feds said generated some $213 million in drug sales over little more than two years was sentenced Friday to a life prison term with no possibility of parole.
Ross Ulbricht, 31, who at least at one point was known as the site’s leader, “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was also ordered to pay over $183 million in restitution, according to the New York Times (reg. req.) and Wired.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, who called Ulbricht “the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug-trafficking enterprise,” said she spent more than 100 hours reviewing the evidence and mulling the issues before deciding on his sentence in the Manhattan case.
Parents had testified that they blamed the Silk Road for the drug-related deaths of two men, and Forrest said Ulbricht had personally approved the sale of deadly cyanide on the site and had been planning the Silk Road since 2010 or before as “his life’s work,” Ars Technica’s Law & Disorder blog reported.
The judge rejected defense arguments that Ulbricht, a first-time offender, had learned his lesson and that selling drugs in on a website with a rating system and a physician adviser minimized the danger to those involved. Instead, she focused on prosecutors’ argument that sentencing in the landmark case needed to send a message to others.
Forrest also referred to evidence, disputed by the defense, that Ulbricht had been prepared to authorize the murder of individuals he perceived as a threat to Silk Road, although no slayings actually took place.
“Your case is without precedent. You are first. For those considering stepping into your shoes, they need to understand, there will be very severe consequences. There must be no doubt that lawlessness will not be tolerated,” Forrest told Ulbricht, adding: “There must be no doubt that you cannot run a massive criminal enterprise and, because it occurred over the Internet, minimize the crime committed on that basis.”
Prosecutors had asked for a lengthy sentence that was “substantially above the mandatory minimum,” but did not explicitly seek a life term, according to an earlier Wired article. Under the federal system, a life term does not allow for potential parole.
Attorney Joshua Dratel defended Ulbricht. He called his client’s sentence “unreasonable, unjust, unfair and based on improper consideration with no basis in fact or law” and said an appeal is planned.
Among other grounds, he plans to point to alleged misbehavior that resulted in criminal charges against two federal agents involved in the Silk Road probe.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Ulbricht was the fall guy in Silk Road’s illicit $1.2B business, defense tells jury”
ABAJournal.com: “Was ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ multiple people? Federal judge limits defense in $200M Silk Road case”
ABAJournal.com: “Claimed ‘digital kingpin’ of hidden Silk Road drug-sale website is convicted, could get life”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Federal judge in $1.2B Silk Road drug case is threatened online”
