Trump Pardons Ross Ulbricht, Founder of ‘Silk Road’ Online Bazaar for Illicit Goods

In doing so, the president fulfills a campaign promise to the libertarian movement.

Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the website Silk Road, appears in an undated photograph made from his computer and presented as an exhibit during his 2015 criminal trial in New York federal court. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York/Handout via REUTERS)

President Donald Trump has issued a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of an underground online marketplace called Silk Road that was designed to let people anonymously buy and sell various unlawful goods and services.

Trump said in a Jan. 21 post on Truth Social that he had granted Ulbricht a pardon, fulfilling a campaign pledge he made during a speech at the Libertarian Party National Convention in May 2024 to free Ulbricht from life in prison.