It was a damning assessment of the rollercoaster life and times of the 31-year-old criminal genius who grew up in Austin, Texas, to become the mastermind behind the most notorious of online black markets.
Created in January 2011 and shut down by law enforcement in October 2013, Silk Road let its users buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously over the so-called dark net, outside the reach of the law.
Using the online moniker “Dread Pirate Roberts”, a reference to a character in the 1987 movie The Princess Bride, Ulbricht, according to prosecutors, “controlled and oversaw every aspect of Silk Road, and managed a staff of paid, online administrators and computer programmers who assisted with the day-to-day operation of the site”. He grew rich as a result, apparently reaping “commissions worth more than $13m generated from the illicit sales conducted through the site”.
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But in the same way that the pirate music platform Napster was forced to close around the turn of the millennium after attracting the attention of the US authorities, Silk Road – and its founder – were transformed into a powerful brand and soon the FBI was focusing on them.
“He was the poster boy [of the dark net] with Silk Road, because he had the most romantic nickname, Dread Pirate Roberts, and so everyone focused on him, including the FBI,” said Dr Simon Moores, chair of the International ECrime Congress. “He was foolishly provocative, and that is a big mistake to make in a democracy like the US.”
Preet Bharara
US Attorney Preet Bharara called Ulbricht a ‘drug dealer and criminal profiteer’. Photograph: Stephen Chernin/Stephen Chernin/Invision/AP
Just how big is only now becoming clear as Ulbricht contemplates death behind bars. Judge Katherine B Forrest insisted a severe sentence was necessary to send a clear signal to others. “There must be no doubt that lawlessness will not be tolerated,” Forrest declared. “There must be no doubt that you cannot run a massive criminal enterprise and because it occurred over the internet minimise the crime committed on that basis.”
But in lawless cyberspace some disagree. A man condemned by the US legal system finds himself lionised by others on Twitter.
“Ross Ulbricht, you will one day be remembered as an American hero,” tweeted one sympathiser. “Sadly, you might never live to see that day.” Chris Rorie tweeted: “My heart’s with Ross Ulbricht right now. Alumni of my high school ... I know he’s guilty, I also know he’s a pioneer, a hero.”
Some have invoked comparisons with Aaron Swartz, the computer hacker who was arrested in the US in 2011 and threatened with a draconian $1m fine and 35 years in prison. Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in prison. Two days after the prosecution rejected his counter-offer, he hanged himself.