Who is Ross Ulbricht? A libertarian who championed internet privacy out of deep personal conviction, or a ruthless felon who appreciated that secrecy was integral to the successful operation of his multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise?
After the Silk Road supremo’s sentence to life imprisonment without parole was handed down on Friday, Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara was under no illusions about the man who had been sniffling in the dock only hours before. “Make no mistake,” he declared, “Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions.”