Trump announces pardon for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, vacating life sentence

President Trump announced Tuesday night that he had granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Ross Ulbricht, founder of the notorious dark web site Silk Road.

Trump, 78, announced his grant of clemency, first reported earlier Tuesday by The Post, on Truth Social.

“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” he wrote. 

“The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”

A source close to the White House told The Post at midday Tuesday that executive action to turn Ulbricht loose was “incoming.”

Trump, 78, had vowed in May to reduce Ulbricht’s life sentence on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering “down to time served” if he won the 2024 election.

Ulbricht was arrested in October 2013 in San Francisco and accused of running the notorious website — which sold drugs and other illegal products while accepting bitcoin as payment — under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.”

Now 40, Ulbricht was convicted in February 2015 on charges including drug trafficking and conspiracies to commit money laundering and computer hacking. He was sentenced that May to two life terms in prison, plus 40 years.

Ulbricht had unsuccessfully appealed his conviction and sentence up to the Supreme Court, leaving him to serve out his time at a maximum security prison in Arizona.

On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sent a letter to Trump asking him to show mercy. 

“I write to urge you to follow through on your stated intention to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. Mr. Ulbricht is serving two life sentences plus forty years without parole for nonviolent offenses related to the website he launched in early 2011,” Paul’s letter read. 

“Like so many others, I am shocked by the harsh sentence imposed on this first-time offender.”

Paul argued that Ulbricht’s sentence is “vastly disproportionate to his crimes,” since “the worst drug sellers on the site received significantly more lenient sentences.”

Trump’s campaign vow pleased many Libertarians, who champion Ulbricht as a pioneer of free markets and held up “Free Ross” signs as Trump spoke at their national convention.

The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Post.