Ross Ulbricht

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Ross Ulbricht

Ross William Ulbricht (pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR) ; * March 27, 1984 ) is the founder and first operator of the online black market Silk Road, which existed from 2011 to 2013 . Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to two life imprisonment plus 40 years with no possibility of early release in 2015 .

Life

Beginnings

Ulbricht grew up in the US state of Texas , where he graduated from high school in 2002 . He then began studying physics at the University of Texas at Dallas , which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2006 . He then completed his master's degree at Pennsylvania State University in the field of crystallography .

After completing his studies in 2009, he and a friend founded an online shop for used books, which was not very successful.

Silk Road

As early as 2009 Ulbricht toyed with the idea of ​​using existing technologies, such as the Tor network and the  Bitcoin payment system, in order to set up an online black market . From 2010 he worked actively on Silk Road and finally put the site online in early 2011.

Arrest and trial

At 3:15 p.m. on October 1, 2013, Ulbricht was arrested by FBI officers in plain clothes in a public library in San Francisco . He was charged with conspiracy to trade drugs and weapons on the Internet. In detail, Ulbricht is accused of aiding and abetting the distribution of illegal narcotics, running a criminal company with more than five people under his supervision, breaking a computer, distributing forged documents and money laundering. As operator of the platform, Ulbricht is said to have earned around 15.8 million euros in Bitcoins with Silk Road under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts . After almost a month in court and four hours of deliberation by the jury, the verdict was reached. On February 5, 2015, he was found guilty on seven counts by a Manhattan jury.

Ulbricht had pleaded “not guilty” in court. He argued that he only started the trading platform out of the libertarian motivation of anarcho-capitalism and soon withdrew. The trading platform was continued by others.

"What we're doing isn't about scoring drugs or 'sticking it to the man". It's about standing up for our rights as human beings and refusing to submit when we've done no wrong. (...) Silk Road is a vehicle for that message. "

“What we do is not about drug dealing or 'knocking out the government'. It's about standing up for our rights as human beings and refusing to submit if we haven't done anything wrong. (...) Silk Road is a vehicle for this message. "

- Ross Ulbricht

Under a pretext, he was lured back by the later operators and then had to serve as their pawn sacrifice. He denies being "Dread Pirate Roberts". Trial observers criticized the fact that important defense witnesses were not admitted and feared that an example would be made to Ulbricht. "Ulbricht's arrest and conviction (...) should send a clear message to anyone trying to run a criminal enterprise on the Internet," said prosecutor Preet Bharara . "The alleged anonymity of the dark web is not a shield against arrest and prosecution." Until April 4, 2015, the defense had the opportunity to appeal. Ulbricht's lawyer Joshua Dratel wanted to "definitely make use of it". The website freeross.org campaigns for Ulbricht's release.

On May 29, 2015, the sentence was set to life imprisonment. This sentence combined a sentence of 20 years, one for five years, one for 15 years and two life sentences to be served simultaneously. A parole was excluded. The prosecution also demands about 184 million US dollars from him; this corresponds to the total value of the drugs and counterfeit papers traded on Silk Road. With a letter to Judge Katherine Forrest and an appeal before the sentence was announced, Ulbricht had tried in vain to obtain a milder sentence. His lawyer described the judgment as "inappropriate and unjust" and filed an objection on June 4, 2015. The appeal was dismissed by a U.S. federal appeals court on May 31, 2017, and the sentence was upheld. Against this Ulbricht appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States . However, the latter did not accept the case for decision. The judgment is then final .

Another case in which Ulbricht is accused of planning contract killing was discontinued on July 20, 2018.

Ulbricht is currently (as of March 2019) in the United States Penitentiary, Tucson .

Documentation

  • 2015: Alex Winter : Deep Web - The Fall of the Silk Road.
  • 2016: Ross Ulbricht - The Darknet Dealer
  • 2017: Gangster - Without scruples and morals ; Season 4, episode 6: Ross William Ulbricht.
  • 2017: Mark Lewis: Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ross Ulbricht  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DeepDotWeb: Silk Road Admin Ross Ulbricht (DPR) Sentenced to Life in Prison. In: deepdotweb.com. May 30, 2015, accessed July 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/silk-road-105.html ( Memento from February 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison. In: The Guardian . May 29, 2015, accessed December 27, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Sign the petition. Retrieved on May 4, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ Christoph Fröhlich: Silk-Road: Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life imprisonment. In: stern . May 31, 2015, accessed March 24, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Ryan Mac: Who Is Ross Ulbricht? Piecing Together The Life Of The Alleged Libertarian Mastermind Behind Silk Road. In: forbes . October 2, 2013, accessed February 13, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Ross Ulbricht: Silk Road creator convicted on drugs charges. BBC News , February 5, 2015, accessed February 7, 2015 .
  8. ^ Andy Greenberg: Meet The Dread Pirate Roberts, The Man Behind Booming Black Market Drug Website Silk Road. In: forbes . August 14, 2013, accessed March 24, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Jörg Thoma: Ross Ulbricht threatens life imprisonment after conviction. Golem.de , February 5, 2015, accessed on February 7, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht found guilty on all courts. CNN , February 4, 2015, accessed February 7, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Silk Road founder's parents speak out. CNN , February 6, 2015, accessed February 7, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Ross William Ulbricht: Alleged Silk Road founder faces life imprisonment. In: Handelsblatt . February 5, 2015, accessed February 13, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Ross Ulbricht was found guilty of operating Silk Road. Motherboard, VICE , February 5, 2015, accessed February 7, 2015 .
  14. ↑ a b Free Ross | The Official Site of the Ulbricht Family. Retrieved May 29, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Silk Road: Ross Ulbricht files appeal against convictions and sentencing. In: The Guardian . July 5, 2015, accessed July 6, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Johannes Wendt: Ross Ulbricht: Silk Road founder has to be behind bars for life. In: Zeit Online. May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Ross Ulbricht: May 22, 2015 - Ulbricht letter to Judge Forrest. documentcloud.org, May 22, 2015, accessed May 30, 2015 .
  18. ^ Nicole Hong: Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Sentencedto Life in Prison. In: The Wall Street Journal . May 29, 2015, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Jörg Thoma: Life imprisonment for Ross Ulbricht confirmed. Golem.de , June 1, 2017, accessed June 1, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Court order list 585 US Supreme Court of the United States, June 28, 2018, accessed September 19, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Ross Ulbricht Murder-for-Hire Indictment to Be Dismissed - Bitcoin News. In: Bitcoin News. July 24, 2018, accessed July 30, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Contact - Free Ross. freeross.org, accessed March 24, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Criminal careers: Ross Ulbricht - The Darknet Dealer. Retrieved February 14, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Ulbricht, Ross
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ulbricht, Ross William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American programmer and drug dealer
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1984