Silk Highway founder Ross Ulbricht expressed his heartfelt gratitude to President Trump on Thursday in his first public remarks since receiving the commander in chief’s pardon that freed him from a life sentence.
“Final night time, Donald Trump granted me a full pardon. I used to be doing life with out parole and I used to be locked up for greater than 11 years. However he let me out. I’m a free man now. So let or not it’s identified that Donald Trump is a person of his phrase,” Ulbricht mentioned in a video posted on X.
Ulbricht, 40, was serving a double life sentence plus 40 years at a maximum-security jail in Arizona after being convicted in February 2015 for his connection to the infamous darkish net market, the place customers might anonymously purchase or promote narcotics or a variety of different illicit gadgets with bitcoin.
Trump, who in his pardon announcement slammed the punishment handed all the way down to Ulbricht as “ridiculous,” had vowed to launch the Silk Highway founder final Might.
“Thanks a lot, President Trump, for giving me this wonderful blessing,” Ulbricht continued, inserting his hand over his coronary heart.
“I’m so, so grateful to have my life again, to have my future again, to have this second likelihood,” he added.
Trump, 78, indicated that apart from the stiff sentence handed all the way down to Ulbricht, who glided by “Dread Pirate Roberts” on the Silk Highway market he allegedly ran, he pardoned him to “honor” his mom, Lyn Ulbricht, and “the Libertarian Motion, which supported me so strongly.”
Libertarians, who view Ulbricht as a Bitcoin pioneer and free market hero, had lengthy demanded his launch.
“That is such an essential second for me and for my entire household,” Ulbricht mentioned. “It’s an essential second for everyone who’s been working for this for years. This can be a victory, and it’s your victory too.”
“This is a crucial second for everyone, in all places who loves freedom and who cares about second probabilities.”
Ulbricht mentioned his first few days as a free man have felt each “wonderful” and “overwhelming,” and that he intends to spend time together with his household for “nevertheless lengthy we want.”
“However there’s loads to speak about,” he added. “And I sit up for re-engaging with the free world … as soon as I’m feeling as much as it.”
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