Those murder-for-hire allegations prevented the first Trump administration from granting clemency to Ulbricht. The White House considered releasing Ulbricht in 2020 but ultimately rejected the idea due to the alleged role of violence in the case, according to a former administration official involved in the process who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity.
Since then, however, the Trump administration has changed its position on Ulbricht's case — perhaps in part due to its embrace of the libertarian cryptocurrency community, for whom Ulbricht has become a martyr and created a célèbre. At the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC, last May, then-presidential candidate Trump pledged to commute Ulbricht's sentence “on day one” if he were re-elected. (In the end, the first day passed without any mercy for Ulbricht, even though Trump pardoned more than a thousand participants in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, although Trump ally Elon Musk promised in a post to Ross will also be released.”)
It is far from clear exactly what role Ulbricht will play in the free world. Even in his statement to the judge at his 2015 sentencing hearing, Ulbricht never fully acknowledged the damage done by drug sales on the Silk Road. And according to Jared Der-Yeghiayan, a former Homeland Security Investigations agent who infiltrated the Silk Road during the investigation, Ulbricht continues to show little remorse for his actions in his public posts at X.
“The idea of him being released doesn't bother me at all,” said Der-Yeghiayan, who now works as head of strategic intelligence at cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis. “I find it annoying if there is now the impression that he has done nothing wrong; that does not acknowledge the facts of the case.”
Among some criminal justice reform advocates, however, Ulbricht has become an example of oversentencing, especially because he was technically charged with non-violent crimes. “Ross has served more than enough time. He has been a model prisoner. He is a first-time, non-violent offender. He poses no safety risk to the community,” Alice Johnson, CEO of the justice reform foundation Taking Action for Good, told WIRED in November. Johnson herself spent 20 years in prison for attempted possession with intent to distribute before Trump commuted her life sentence in 2018 and pardoned her in 2020. “I believe Ross' case will pave the way for many others who have been wrongly sentenced. draconian penalties for coming home.”
On Tuesday evening, 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 efforts on behalf of Ulbricht. “President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross' life. ROSS IS A FREE MAN!!!”
Additional reporting by Joel Khalili
