Silk Road Mastermind Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison
by JULIANNE PEPITONE
Ross Ulbricht, the convicted operator of the underground online black market Silk Road, was sentenced Friday to life in prison, according to WNBC.
That was the maximum sentence Ulbricht faced for seven federal convictions including narcotics trafficking, computer hacking, running a criminal enterprise and money laundering.
Ulbricht, 31, had been convicted in February 2015 on all counts he faced for his role in operating Silk Road -- and facilitating what investigators say totaled more than $200 million in anonymous online drug sales using the digital currency bitcoin. The New York City jury of six men and six women took only a few hours to deliberate and convict Ulbricht on all charges.
On Friday, reporters stationed at the Manhattan courthouse reported some family members of six Silk Road customers who overdosed on drugs gave statements before the sentencing.
Ulbricht, who used the screen name "Dread Pirate Roberts" on Silk Road, has denied investigators' accusations that he ran the marketplace from 2011 to 2013. He claimed he started Silk Road but handed it over to another operator a few months later, and that he was lured back to the marketplace and set up to take the legal fall shortly before he was arrested in October 2013.
Ross Ulbricht, the convicted operator of the underground online black market Silk Road, was sentenced Friday to life in prison, according to WNBC.
That was the maximum sentence Ulbricht faced for seven federal convictions including narcotics trafficking, computer hacking, running a criminal enterprise and money laundering.
Ulbricht, 31, had been convicted in February 2015 on all counts he faced for his role in operating Silk Road -- and facilitating what investigators say totaled more than $200 million in anonymous online drug sales using the digital currency bitcoin. The New York City jury of six men and six women took only a few hours to deliberate and convict Ulbricht on all charges.
Related: Accused Silk Road Operator Ross Ulbricht Convicted on All Counts
On Friday, reporters stationed at the Manhattan courthouse reported some family members of six Silk Road customers who overdosed on drugs gave statements before the sentencing.
Ulbricht, who used the screen name "Dread Pirate Roberts" on Silk Road, has denied investigators' accusations that he ran the marketplace from 2011 to 2013. He claimed he started Silk Road but handed it over to another operator a few months later, and that he was lured back to the marketplace and set up to take the legal fall shortly before he was arrested in October 2013.
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But federal investigators said Ulbricht was "caught red handed" logging into an administrative account for Silk Road, and they built a case involving evidence from Ulbricht's laptop, the tracing of bitcoin exchanges and more.
In a strange twist, two federal agents who were investigating Silk Road were themselves charged in March 2015 with several counts related to stealing $800,000 in bitcoin and compromising the investigation.
more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/silk-road-mastermind-ross-ulbricht-sentenced-life-prison-n366636?cid=eml_nbn_20150529
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