Conservative pundit Charlie Kirk took a stand for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the shuttered online black market Silk Road in his recent tweet. According to Kirk, the fact that Ulbricht is serving a double life sentence (plus 40 years) without parole is "a total miscarriage of justice."
The more I learn about Ross Ulbricht and his over-prosecution the more outraged I am about this total miscarriage of justice
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 11, 2019
Ross, a first time NON VIOLENT offender got TWO LIFE sentences for building a website
Meanwhile Epstein got a slap on the wrist in early 2000’s
Outrage
The FBI caught Ulbrich red-handed in October 2013 when he was browsing Silk Road in a public library under the infamous "Dread Pirate Roberts" pseudonym. The three-letter agency seized 144,000 BTC from Ulbrich (about $1.3 bln at current prices).
The mastermind was convicted of all charges back in 2015, including the so-called "kingpin charge," which is traditionally reserved for mafia bosses and drug cartel leaders. Ulbricht acted as the organizer of the crime group with at least five other people.
At the end of September, before the seventh anniversary of his arrest, Ulbricht published a letter called 'Bitcoin Equals Freedom' where he recalls how Bitcoin was slowly turning into a new form of money "while no one was watching."
"The promise of freedom and the allure of destiny energized the early community. Bitcoin was consciously, yet spontaneously taken up as money while no one was watching, and our world will never be the same."
Of course, Kirk is not the only one who doesn't want the 35-year old to spend all his life behind bars as a first-time non-violent offender. The clemency petition, which asks US President Donald Trump to pardon Ulbricht, already has 231,451 signatures. Ulbricht's mother Lyn Ulbricht claims that her son wasn't treated fairly and describes his sentence as "draconian."
Valeria Blokhina
