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silk road founder sentenced to life - Charon - 06-09-2015
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/20-Years-Prison-Silk-Road-Founder-Ross-William-Ulbricht-305425121.html
A San Francisco man who created the online drug-selling site Silk Road was sentenced in New York Friday to life in prison by a judge who cited six deaths that resulted from drugs bought on his website and five people he tried to have killed. Marc Santia has more. (Published Friday, May 29, 2015)
Updated at 6:45 PM EDT on Friday, May 29, 2015
A San Francisco man who created the online drug-selling site Silk Road was sentenced in New York Friday to life in prison by a judge who cited six deaths that resulted from drugs bought on his website and five people he tried to have killed.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest told Ross Ulbricht he was a criminal even though he doesn't fit the typical profile — he has two collegiate degrees — and she brushed aside his attempt to characterize the business as a big mistake.
"It was a carefully planned life's work. It was your opus," she said. "You are no better a person than any other drug dealer."
Forrest said the sentence was necessary to show others who might follow in his path that there are "very serious consequences." She also ordered $183 million forfeiture.
Ulbricht, 31, was convicted in February of operating the site for nearly three years from 2011 until his 2013 arrest.
Prosecutors say he collected $18 million in bitcoins through commissions on drug sales on a website with thousands of listings under categories like "Cannabis," ''Psychedelics" and "Stimulants." They said he brokered more than 1 million drug deals worth over $183 million while he operated on the site with the alias Dread Pirate Roberts — a reference to the swashbuckling character in "The Princess Bride."
The judge said Ulbricht's efforts to arrange the murders of five people he deemed as threats to his business was proof that Silk Road had not become the "world without restrictions, of ultimate freedom" that he claimed he sought.
Forrest said she was "blown away in fury" at the "breathtakingly irresponsible" Internet postings of a doctor who advised customers on Silk Road about the effects of various drugs.
Prosecutors cited at least five deaths traced to overdoses from drugs bought on Silk Road, and a parent of two of the victims spoke in court.
Before the sentence was announced, a sniffling and apologetic Ulbricht told Forrest he's a changed man who is not greedy or vain by nature.
"I've essentially ruined my life and broken the hearts of every member of my family and my closest friends," he said. "I'm not a self-centered sociopathic person that was trying to express some inner badness. I do love freedom. It's been devastating to use it."
His hands folded before him, Ulbricht was stoic as the sentence was announced. As he left the courtroom, he carried with him photographs of those who died as a result of drugs purchased on Silk Road.
RE: silk road founder sentenced to life - Charon - 06-09-2015
oh that was awesome. he can be rather brilliant. i particularly like his approach to scare americans with: they will cut off ur heads and kill ur children.
yes, drugs were taken before. during. and, after.
i wonder if anything can be appealed. since i live rite where silk road operated, i caught the article in the news that Pirate Roberts had doxxed the judge. her private info was put up all over the internet.
she was gonna kick his ass from here to hawaii just for that.
she was angry at some doctor. is he sentenced? don't think so.
i know a few dealers got wrongly creamed by the rockefeller law we had. lifetime for three strikes. preposterous.
i barely hear of vicious rapists and murderers getting life in prison.
i feel badly for him. he is so not prepared to be in prison for life. ok, his attempted hits on five men, little hard to explain to a jury.
but this trial got no publicity. i don't even know all the details. i looked and it was beginning. both sides had rested and the jury had decided by the time i had a chance to look again.
AT&T were bankrupt. by using their connections to tape every americans phone calls and internet usage, they became multi billionaires again.
i think the monies given to the billion dollar drug companies is insane.
we have commercials in USA for about five medical products. to use for everything. humira is for RA. very dangerous. yet it is now pushed for everything under the sun.
same with the other meds. horrific side effects. some of the drugs were banned by FDA but they r now in useage again.
money talks here.
the punishment is excessive according to all i have read thru the years.
russell brand was brilliant.
thank u for sharing that. gonna subscribe to him.
RE: silk road founder sentenced to life - IceWizard - 06-09-2015
US drug laws stink to say the very least. They could use all that money spent on survelance, arrest, judgement, and housing drug offenders in a lot better way. They are not "curbing the tide" they just try and sweep it under the rug ... It's still here hello ... If the feds and states relaxed the drug laws just how much money would be freed up to help those in the deep throws of addiction and free up much needed space in the prison systems to house our most violent real criminals .... Life... Liberty ... And the pursuit of happiness my a$$ ... I think one person's liberty ends at the beginning of someone else's .. As long as what 'ole Joe Blow wants to do(as long as he doesn't infringe on my rights...robbery...theft...murder...etc) should be his right to do it. Seems to me like the US is trying to police the world. How's that working for ya .... But that's just the way I see things ...
RE: silk road founder sentenced to life - Charon - 06-09-2015
how is that working for ya, indeed, IceWizard.
gave me a chuckle u did though. u r so correct.
RE: silk road founder sentenced to life - Allegory - 06-10-2015
I agree about relocating countries, however it is much harder than one would think to secure a permanent residency visa for a foreign country.
Most require you to be an asset to the workforce of economy (Most EU nations), others allow for those with a large sum to emigrate as retirement (Thailand, Greece, several Middle Eastern nations).
Even the most reasonable (Chile, by far!)Â requires proof of recurring income in the amount of $500 per family member. For one person, that is not so difficult.
But real people with families, they are trapped in a prison whose walls are growing higher. When those walls form a cage, there will be no flight.
I am waiting for the day that the visa requests I currently send out seeking political asylum from the US are taken seriously.
RE: silk road founder sentenced to life - atomheartmother - 06-13-2015
Wow. That was excessive. There are pedophiles and crazies within a few miles of you at any point in time, yet they walk among us.