Ross Ulbricht, founder of the black market network Silk Road was today sentenced to spend the rest of his life inside a federal penitentiary.
On Friday, he received a sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole for his role in creating the anonymous, billion-dollar, drug marketplace. From Andy Greenberg’s coverage for WIRED:
Judge Katherine Forrest gave Ulbricht the most severe sentence possible, beyond what even the prosecution had explicitly requested. The minimum Ulbricht could have served was 20 years.
“The stated purpose [of the Silk Road] was to be beyond the law. In the world you created over time, democracy didn’t exist. You were captain of the ship, the Dread Pirate Roberts,” she told Ulbricht as she read the sentence, referring to his pseudonym as the Silk Road’s leader. “Silk Road’s birth and presence asserted that its…creator was better than the laws of this country. This is deeply troubling, terribly misguided, and very dangerous.”
More coverage from news outlets who’ve had reporters at the trial throughout: Ars, NYT.