On Oct. 2, 2013, after months of extensive joint federal investigations, the FBI arrested Ross William Ulbricht (aka “Dread Pirate Roberts”) for his role in leading a major online criminal enterprise.
In May 2015, Ulbricht—now 31 years old—was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted on multiple felony charges in connection with his operation of the Silk Road website, which had become an anonymous black market for drugs and other illegal items.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest chose to impose the harshest sentence she could, essentially equating him with a mafia boss in hopes of sending a message to other would-be cyber criminals. As she said during sentencing: “The stated purpose [of the Silk Road] was to be beyond the law. In the world you created over time, democracy didn’t exist. You were captain of the ship, the Dread Pirate Roberts. You made your own laws. What you did with Silk Road was terribly destructive to our social fabric.”
