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Ross Ulbricht, Founder Of Bitcoin Bazaar Silk Road, Sentenced To Life In Jail
Bitcoin was supposed to be perfectly anonymous and completely untraceable: so much so that its true believers, such as libertarian Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts, felt empowered to launch the Silk Road, an underground online shopping bazaar similar to Amazon only one selling drugs and various other illegal paraphernalia.
The Silk Road quickly became massively successful and extremely profitable: so much so that Ulbricht promptly forgot the idealism that made him launch the project and quickly subverted the power and wealth it provided him for his own selfish ways, among which ordering the assassinations of subordinates who crossed him.
It turned out neither Bitcoin, nor the project, were as safe and anonymous as Ulbricht had hoped, and moments ago the Dread Pirate was sentenced to life in prison: a heavy sentence which according to the WSJ signals "the government’s seriousness in combating Internet crime."
The Silk Road founder faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison, but federal prosecutors asked the judge to give him “substantially” more than that, arguing that a harsh sentence is necessary to deter others from following in Mr. Ulbricht’s footsteps.
The punishment is a heavy price to pay for the 31-year-old, who had pleaded with the judge to spare him his old age and “leave a small light at the end of the tunnel.”
The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest followed an emotional three-hour hearing. Judge Forrest said she spent more than 100 hours grappling with the appropriate sentence, calling the decision “very, very difficult.”
But ultimately, she gave Mr. Ulbricht the harshest sentence allowed under the law, saying Silk Road was “an assault on the public health of our communities” by making it easy for people around the world to buy illegal drugs.
“What you did with Silk Road was terribly destructive to our social fabric,” Judge Forrest said.
Judge Forrest said Mr. Ulbricht was “no better a person than any other drug dealer” and that his high education and privileged upbringing didn’t put him above the law.
Silly pirate: in America the only companies that are allowed by law to sell you drugs are the 'legal' pharmaceutical corporations, whose dealers owners use all those Obamacare-funded reimbursements from selling FDA approved anti-depressants and other mind-altering substances, to then go ahead and buy back their own stock.
And yet, it is a little troubling:
For manipulating "markets", rigging and defrauding tens of billions from ordinary investors many of whom lost their life savings because they trusted regulators would do their duty and keep "markets" honest and efficient, the US Department of Justice arrested precisely zero bankers.
For granting the 2018 World Cup to Russia, the same Department of Justice decided to make a loud political statement and arrest virtually the entire pinnacle of FIFA, even if the harshest sentence that will be handed down is some deferred prosecution settlement.
For creating his own marketplace outside the domain of the conventional monetary regime, the US unloaded a ton of bricks on a 31 year old and sentenced him to life behind bars. Because, you know, it will deter all illegal transactions hereafter.
For those who are interested in the full story of the Silk Road and how a 29-year-old revolutionized drug distribution, the following 2-part mini series by Wired is a must read.
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'Assasinations of subordinates who crossed him' What? Did he kill anybody??? Life in prison for setting up and profiting from an online marketplace dealing in drugs? I can't wait for this entire matrix to collapse on itself. The judge, her reasoning, the insane 'war on drugs', the incredible profits made by the prison and judicial systems, the rampant corruption of authorities/lawmakers/leaders everywhere, imprisoning human beings for VICTIMLESS CRIMES, is so pathetically evil. THIS is what is 'terribly destructive' to the social fabric - our insane matrix where theft and murder are legally sanctioned and free market activities between two willing parties is a crime warranting life in prison. Help us all.
Why does the US imprison more of its citizens than any other country in the world with the vast majority incarcerated for so called 'drug offenses'. Offense against who? Only very, very, very, stupid people can be convinced it's a good thing to imprison human beings for entering into a willing transaction that hurts no one. USA! USA! USA! USA! We are numero uno in creating human misery and killing people.
When asked to address the court after the sentencing defendant replied "SILK ROAD THIS"
Guilty of the political crimes of being too hard to plunder, and too independent of Zion.
See the treason against the Liberty Dollar operation for more evidence.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
Hahah, what a farce of a legal system. Anyone who isn't sickened by the country should be ashamed of themselves.
And yet bankers can destroy nations with their greed and walk free.
Whatever happens to the United States, we deserve it.
Sad days for Amerika.
It's a warning of what's coming. Felon-ization of anything and everything that runs afoul of a law --- pick one... We're in a place now were pretty much anything can be 'defined' and categorized in short order. It need only fall under the ever-expanding definition of 'terrorism' and ALL of the things attached to that term - from taxes to banking to speech to 'hoarding' - anything, you name it. It's open season for anything that wears a uniform or has license to capture, prosecute, incarcerate or Kill. On our way to making 1960's East Germany look tame by comparison.
Funny how Ross Ulbricht will die in prison and Walter Ulbricht got a state funeral, eh?
Ha, what a bunch of bullshit. Illegal drugs, while our troops are protecting the crops in Trashcanistan.
No hypocrisy there. Nope.
Seriously? Is anyone surprised by this? We are living in a fascist oligarchy. The judge decided to eliminate one of the oligarchy's competitors. Nothing new there. Anyone who chooses to stay in the USSA needs to be armed to the teeth and prepared to fight in the coming wars against the fascists. Everyone else needs to bug out for South America. Me? I have a nice apartment in Punta del Este.
Are you living off an accumulated pile of loot, a pension, SS or do you have a job? If so, what do you do?
What the fucking fuck. Fuck the Criminal USA. Fucking moving to a free country like China, Ukraine, Russia or Zimbabwe.
Yeah good id... wait a minute...
http://www.coindesk.com/information/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto/
There is a laundry list of aliases.
I thought his real name was Fonestar.
He is sentenced, because he haven't bought a goverment license (bribe and connection) to put his business online...
He needs to be sentenced to three lifetimes in jail for our liberty!
ZERO banksters are in jail and they have done much worse, stealing billions and manipulating markets so milions are in financial problems.
Justice isn't blind. She is dead and burried.
How much is the judge getting paid by the elites? Cherchez l'argent!!!
a heavy sentence which according to the WSJ signals "the government’s seriousness in combating Internet crime."
Wrong!
It's about government's seriousness in "dealing with its competition".
Should have become a CRIMINAL BANKER....they don't get jail regardless of crime.
What was this guy thinking?
So what? He ran a website that facilitated drug distribution murder for hire, etc. He wanted to wack a few competitors and underperforming subordinates? Meh?
This whole mess could have easily been avoided had he donated to the re-election campaigns of key members of CONress and helped them move product. TPTB paid PEANUTS to get the TPP fast tracked. He could have paid a fraction of what they spent. Harvard business school would have done a case study on his Silk Road...
Message from CONgress to Ross Ulbricht:
Look, we run the narcotics, prostituition, gambling, enforcers. wiseguys, etc. This is our turf...
Should have donated to the Clinton Foundation or had Bill do a speech to his shareholders
Good, make an example of him. The world needs to know what happens to the kingpins who don't provide the DEA and Secret Service with complementary Columbian prostitutes.
Never mess with the United States Secretary of State's family business.
Deep State.
And John Corizine is a free and very wealthy man....
I hope she gets the "Maximum John" treatment. To bad her name is not Jane but "Maximum Kat" might send a message just as well. He should be able to at least appeal the sentence on the "send a message" meme.
He looks like Chandler Bing -
I truly believe Ross will be busted out by a "Bastille Day" type of event long before serving the entire sentence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW72Gmqjse4
But they're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel and let his kingdom rise
Judges would not be judges if they were not captured and corrupt.
It will change some day. Sorry, Ross. Even Hitler was relased from jail ... because he was useful to the powers that be.
When are juries (peers) going to wake the f*ck up and stop convicting people for victimiess crimes... damn sheep!
this sentence according to the WSJ signals "the government’s seriousness in combating Internet crime."
I'd like to see the same "seriousness" against criminal bankers.
Free Ross
Average prison sentence for murder: ~21 years.
Average prison sentence for rape: ~8 years.
Average prison sentence for kiddy porn: ~10 years.
This sentence is ludicrous.
I think a lot of comments are focusing too much on the individual case, rather than its place in the grander universe of things as they are today.
What are we seeing?
We are seeing a massive propaganda effort to showcase those who have dared to operate outside the non-righteous confines of the banking regulatory system. This case and the remarkable example being made of Dennis Hastert show that the goodness and utility of strict banking rules are being urgently and forcibly embedded in the minds of the general public.
Look for a great increase in publicity for money-laundering cases, a real rush of them, because the time draws near to close the sack on currency. Get your wealth out of all financial vehicles, no matter what country you live in, because no one is safe from this infernal monstrosity. If it is coming to the financial temples of America, it is most certainly going to visit your hut as well.
"What you did with Silk Road was terribly destructive to our social fabric"
It's scary to think that a federal judge actually harbors delusions of such depth
I'm having a hard time swallowing the hired hit men part of this story.
I get the feeling they just wanted to make an example of this guy, so they made up some shit that makes the harsh sentence seem okay
The government just put a man in a cage for the rest of his life because he published a website. You can dress it up in fancy legal language, "conspiracy to violate 21 USC 841(a)(1)" etc. but the facts are he published a website and will now never set foot on the outside of a prison.
Does this makes sense now: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..." ?
Hey what the fuck? Isn't this what Uber does? Acts as a middleman? They have people doing illegal shit all day and night - running commercial enterprises out of cars registered and INSURED as private vehicles? Where the fuck is the DOJ on that? Uber doesn't eve have to abide by the Americans with Disabilities Act because Uber is a 'tech company'. Well what the fuck, it sounds like Silk Road was just a 'tech company' middle man as well same as Uber.
Fuck this judge.
Honestly, I hate drug dealers. I really do. That's my personal opinion...but locking up this guy isn't the answer. The real answer as well known is to legalize, tax and control this shit but that's another story.
if he was black he would have got probation-that or riots.
If he was black he would have been executed. Grow up you fucking idiot.
Funny how profitable even the simplest businesses can be when there's no government in the way, isn't it?
Funny how this 'side effect' of killing small and/or simple businesses is more relible than the advertised purposes the regulation serves.
Now a bright person might ask which is really the 'side effect'... The advertised purposes, or the reliable effects.
When my mother was a child you could buy just about any known drug, to include poppy, morphine, marijuana and more at any local drug store...one like those Norman Rockwell painted.
I don't condone the part where he supposedly had employees who crossed him killed... As far as I know, that was not one of his convictions, and should be viewed skeptically.
But I find it terribly ironic that a business like the corner drug store of my mother's childhood ...straight out of Norman Rockwell... is now worthy of a life sentence.
Doubleplusgood sentence "Judge" Forrest. Thank you for agonizing over your "decision" before handing down the "example sentence" in your kangaroo court. Every good hypocrite needs to agonize before being told what to do, it's part of the show.
"Silly pirate: in America the only companies that are allowed by law to sell you drugs are the 'legal' pharmaceutical corporations, whose dealers owners use all those Obamacare-funded reimbursements from selling FDA approved anti-depressants and other mind-altering substances, to then go ahead and buy back their own stock. "
What a stupid analogy. While I agree his sentence is way out of line, your analogy is ridiculous. That's like justifying murder by saying only the army is allowed to kill innocent people but civilians should have the right too. He knew he was doing illegal shit and thought he could get away with it. It sucks they fucked him over, but that's the price you pay when you mess with Big Brother.
Who are the victims?
Did any victims appear in court to state their claims against the accused?
What is a crime? What is the origin of the word? How is it defined?