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[gutshot]

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has been sentenced to life in prison

Ross Ulbricht has been sentenced to life in prison, after being found guilty of narcotics conspiracy and other charges earlier this year. Those charges came with a 20-year minimum sentence but no possibility of the death penalty, making life in prison the harshest possible sentence.

The charges stem from Ulbricht's management of the Silk Road, which used Tor Hidden Services and Bitcoin payments to create an ostensibly anonymous marketplace for drugs and other goods. Shut down in October of 2013, the Silk Road was the largest marketplace of its kind, and subsequent attempts at similar online marketplaces have been stymied by law enforcement actions and exit scams. The prosecution estimates that the Silk Road handled as much as $200 million in drug transactions, a figure that played prominently into today's sentencing decision.

The defense also made an extensive appeal for leniency, citing Ulbricht's ability to contribute to society in spite of his crimes. Ulbricht's team submitted nearly a hundred letters from friends, family, and other acquaintances, testifying to Ulbricht's good character. "I’ve had my youth, and I know you must take away my middle years," Ulbricht wrote in a pre-sentencing statement, "but please leave me my old age."

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

Bullshit. Wow, people bought drugs from each other. Who the fuck cares.

 

[fierrotlepou]

That's harsh. It wont stick, right?

Bullshit. Wow, people bought drugs from each other. Who the fuck cares.

That's not the only thing. He actually put a hit out on one of his co-workers.

 

[gutshot]

Bullshit. Wow, people bought drugs from each other. Who the fuck cares.

He ordered hits on 5 people.

 

[NealMcCauley]

I thought the trial had more to do with him trying to put a hit on someone?

Edit: Yeppers.

 

[RumblingRosco]

I mean, relative to the prison sentences some people get for repeated convictions for marijuana possession, this seems light.

 

[Red_Man]

Not surprised seeing as it's in the US, he really lost control of himself. For anyone interested in this site's history or the story of the guy behind it and how difficult it was to catch him, Wired has an amazing write up on him here:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/?mbid=social_twitter

It's quite long, but worth the read. It's a Hollywood story through and through.

 

[Joyful]

Bullshit. Wow, people bought drugs from each other. Who the fuck cares.

he also tried to have someone murdered iirc

 

[Timedog]

Who'd he order hits on?

 

[Crazymoogle]

Err...isn't this the guy that paid an FBI informant to put a hit out on his ex business partner?

The hitman scam: Dread Pirate Roberts’ bizarre murder-for-hire attempts

 

[Guy LeDouche]

Bullshit. Wow, people bought drugs from each other. Who the fuck cares.

He ordered hits on his competitors and their wives and children

 

[linsivvi]

Not surprised seeing as it's in the US, he really lost control of himself. For anyone interested in this site's history or the story of the guy behind it and how difficult it was to catch him, Wired has an amazing write up on him here:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/?mbid=social_twitter

It's quite long, but worth the read. It's a Hollywood story through and through.

So who's going to play him in the eventual adaptation?

 

[Bony Manifesto]

He ordered hits on 5 people.

Didn't they end up dropping those charges?

 

[Kurdel]

So who's going to play him in the eventual adaptation?

Idriss Elba would be the only choice to convey the gravitas of a dread pirate.

 

[fierrotlepou]

He ordered hits on his competitors and their wives and children

Wow, really? Their families too?

I guess he deserves it then. Power and money drove him mad.

 

[gutshot]

Who'd he order hits on?

An admin of his site who had been arrested. And a guy who was supposedly trying to blackmail him plus his 3 roommates.

 

[block tower]

unreal.. non violent drug dealer offender gets life sentence. meanwhile in the NFL you can beat the shit out of your spouse and receive little to no jail time. what an ass backwards system that we have.

 

[whytemyke]

So who's going to play him in the eventual adaptation?

As long as Sorkin writes it I'm in.

 

[Kieli]

unreal.. non violent drug dealer offender gets life sentence. meanwhile in the NFL you can beat the shit out of your spouse and receive little to no jail time. what an ass backwards system that we have.

Hrm. Technically, he himself was not violent.

But if he ordered hits, isn't that the same thing as being violent even if you aren't actually committing the violence?

 

[The Technomancer]

Ordering hits on people is obviously why he got the life sentence, but I would be harsh on him just for organizing drug sales as well. I have very little sympathy for people of sound consciousness who sell narcotics.

 

[Slayven]

reading about him ordering hits and shit, dude was coldblooded.

 

[KingGondo]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think he was actually charged with ordering the hits?

If this sentence is just for Silk Road itself even 20 years seems harsh.

 

[FlyinJ]

Everybody read this:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/

This guy was the epitome of the worst kind of sociopathic internet libertarian dipshit.

 

[foxtrot3d]

At first I was like that's too harsh and then people mentioned the hits he tried to organize and it makes sense now. He deserves it.

 

[Skeyser]

He ordered hits on his competitors and their wives and children

Yeah okay, if he really put hits on those people....and their freaking children, I've lost any sympathy I had from reading the thread title.

 

[Akuun]

He ran a gigantic drug ring, which leads to widespread misery. On top of that, he ordered hits on people.

A life sentence sounds okay to me.

 

[Chesskid1]

i was feelin for him when i read the part about the letters

then i read the replies to this thread, heh

 

[CitizenVectron]

Bullshit. Wow, people bought drugs from each other. Who the fuck cares.

Member should have title "Doesn't read linked articles."

 

[KHlover]

His actual defence was "I'm really not a bad person"? Not surprised by the sentence.

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

I have to recommend anyone with at least a passing interest in this reads that two-part Wired article that's already been linked to, it's an excellent read and really leaves no mystery as to why this case led to a life sentence.

 

[Cagey]

He ran a gigantic drug ring, which leads to widespread misery. On top of that, he ordered hits on people.

A life sentence sounds okay to me.

Yeah, this.

This isn't a dude selling pot and pills on the corner. Silk Road was a vast, international drug market. "People buying drugs" or "Non violent drug dealer" really sells what this was way short.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

Yeah okay, if he really put hits on those people....and their freaking children, I've lost any sympathy I had from reading the thread title.

iirc, wives and children were okayed by him as collateral damage if need be. The competitors were the hired hits.

Also, no one was ever taken out, he was scammed every time lol

Yeah, this.

This isn't a dude selling pot and pills on the corner. Silk Road was a vast, international drug market.

And murder-for-hire market, and child porn market, and weapons-trafficking market. Drugs were only part of Silk Road.

 

[Furio53]

Crazy. Was in my class in high school...

 

[The Technomancer]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think he was actually charged with ordering the hits?

If this sentence is just for Silk Road itself even 20 years seems harsh.

I don't think that's too harsh. Enabling opioid addictions, among other things, is absolutely despicable to me.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

Everybody read this:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/

This guy was the epitome of the worst kind of sociopathic internet libertarian dipshit.

This Wired article is fantastic:

It was like Scarface on fast-forward, Force thought. But he played right along. Over a week or so, Force conspired with his team to complete the fake death of Green. Force sent DPR photos of the staged torture, followed by photos of Green, facedown on the floor, pallid, smeared with Campbell’s Chicken & Stars soup—the supposed aftermath of asphyxiation. Green holed up in his house (he had to stay out of sight as part of the ruse) in a kind of self-imposed witness protection, and Force went back to Baltimore. DPR sent $40,000 to a Capital One account controlled by the government as an advance. DPR never got back the stolen bitcoins, but once in receipt of the putative proof of death, he sent another $40,000 for a job well done.

 

[linsivvi]

Idriss Elba would be the only choice to convey the gravitas of a dread pirate.

Shouldn't the actor of a biopic at least look like the actual person though?

 

[gutshot]

This Wired article is fantastic:

Just wait until you get to the twist at the end.

 

[sooperkool]

So who's going to play him in the eventual adaptation?

Cary Elwes

 

[KingGondo]

I don't think that's too harsh. Enabling opioid addictions, among other things, is absolutely despicable to me.

I can understand the sentence for sure, I'm just mostly against these types of sentences as a matter of policy. Separating this guy from society for the rest of his life seems like overkill.

But I also understand cases like this in which the person deliberately acted for a long period of time and inflicted a large amount of harm.

 

[block tower]

Hrm. Technically, he himself was not violent.

But if he ordered hits, isn't that the same thing as being violent even if you aren't actually committing the violence?

well I guess if he was actually proven guilty of ordering hits he should recurve multiple accounts of conspiracy to commit murder , but I'm not sure if he was or wasn't found guilty of the hits. As far as selling drugs or facilitating a site for people to sell drugs, I don't find anything wrong with selling drugs so I don't believe non violent drug offenders should ever see prison time, probation and lots of fines but not prison time. Drug laws are way to harsh. When we as a country allow McDonalds and liquor stores in every corner of communities, I find it hypocritical that someone ignores the destruction of alcohol and heart disease in favor of cherry picking the destruction caused by drugs.

 

[Joyful]

So who's going to play him in the eventual adaptation?

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

He got what he had coming.

 

[FlyinJ]

Shouldn't the actor of a biopic at least look like the actual person though?

I think the actor who plays the Pied Piper founder from Silicon Valley would nail it.

 

[gutshot]

Defense going to appeal the sentence per Mashable.

Judge Katherine Forrest cited "significant public interest" in handing down the maximum sentence. "I don't know that you feel a lot of remorse... I don't think you know that you hurt a lot of people," said Forrest. She called Ulbricht's claim that the site helped reduce violence a "fantasy."

Ulbricht's lawyer called the sentence "unfair, unjust and unreasonable" and said the family would appeal.

 

[The Technomancer]

I can understand the sentence for sure, I'm just mostly against these types of sentences as a matter of policy. Separating this guy from society for the rest of his life seems like overkill.

But I also understand cases like this in which the person deliberately acted for a long period of time and inflicted a large amount of harm.

I don't know about a life sentence either, but I definitely wouldn't be lenient on him. Going by some of the responses in here he was "just selling drugs"

 

[ICKE]

This is the self proclaimed libertarian who believed in free enterprise without thuggish third party intervention by his own words.

Eventually he created an evil and illegal bureaucracy and tried to hire other criminals to kill people (and their families) who were competing with him for same space. How about them apples.

Have a good one with your life sentence sociopath.

 

[The Technomancer]

well I guess if he was actually proven guilty of ordering hits he should recurve multiple accounts of conspiracy to commit murder , but I'm not sure if he was or wasn't found guilty of the hits. As far as selling drugs or facilitating a site for people to sell drugs, I don't find anything wrong with selling drugs so I don't believe non violent drug offenders should ever see prison time, probation and lots of fines but not prison time. Drug laws are way to harsh. When we as a country allow McDonalds and liquor stores in every corner of communities, I find it hypocritical that someone ignores the destruction of alcohol and heart disease in favor of cherry picking the destruction caused by drugs.

I don't believe in prison terms for drug use, but I sure as hell believe in prison for drug distribution, especially depending on a person's position within the chain of distribution. Someone who is an addict themselves and helps sell in order to deal with their own addiction? I'm more sympathetic and more interested in rehabilitation than prison. But someone like this who organizes the distribution of actual harmful substances (the guy's not just selling weed) for profit? Shut him away for quite a while

 

[FlyinJ]

This sums it up best:

Silk Road offers a neat political parable for the rising libertarian tide in Washington and the smug pride of today’s Silicon Valley, where self-appointed revolutionaries of all stripes believe their powers allow them to transcend traditional human boundaries, including their own mortality. In a way, Silk Road is the dark mirror of The Social Network, a wild technological success story taken to its logically extreme conclusion.

 

[CornBurrito]

He ordered hits on 5 people.

LIFE IN PRISON FOR TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE? HOW UNREASONABLE.

 

[Kibbles]

He ordered hits on 5 people.

Well there goes any sympathy.