Pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht thanks Trump, calls president ‘a man of his word’

Ross Ulbricht, founder of the anonymous online marketplace Silk Road, thanked the president Donald Trump for having given a complete and unconditional pardon. In a video posted online, a visibly emotional Ulbricht praised Trump for being a “man of his word,” and thanked the president for giving him the “wonderful blessing” of freedom.

“I’m so, so grateful to have my life back, to have my future back, to have this second chance,” Ulbricht says in the video. He also said that the pardon was “an important moment for everyone, everywhere, who loves freedom and who cares about second chances.”

People hold signs in support of the founder of the darknet marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, as former President Trump attends the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, DC, on May 25, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder/Reuters)

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Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her of her son’s pardon. The president said it was done “in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly.”

“The scum who worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern weaponization of the government against me,” Trump wrote.

In a recent appearance on “The Will Cain Show“Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who was pushing for Ulbricht’s release, praised Trump for issuing the pardon. Paul pointed out that people who used Silk Road to sell drugs got “lesser sentences,” while that Ulbricht was given two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Ulbricht was convicted after his website Silk Road, which was founded in 2011, was used by those trying to make illegal drug transactions with cryptocurrency. He operated the website from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. In 2015, Ulbricht was convicted.

In a 2015 press release, ICE called Silk Road “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet.

Last month, Ulbricht wrote: “For my last monthly resolution of 2024, I intend to study every day and improve as fast as I can as I prepare for freedom.”

LEFT: Ross Ulbricht speaks in emotional video after being pardoned RIGHT: President Trump signs documents in the Oval Office (@RealRossU/X/REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

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Trump promised to pardon Ulbricht during his 2024 campaign, saying he would do so on “Day 1.” This move was apparently part of Trump’s strategy to win over libertarian voters. Trump talked about commuting Ulbricht’s sentence at both the Libertarian National Convention and the Bitcoin Conference 2024.

In addition to Ulbricht, Trump issued pardons for pro-life activists convicted under the FACE Act and several defendants on January 6. The pardons for pro-life protesters were issued the day before the March for Life in Washington, DC, where Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to speak.