Former US President Donald Trump has announced that if he wins the election again, he will pardon the founder of the illegal online trading platform Silk Road, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment. “If you vote for me, I will commute Ross Ulbricht's sentence on day one,” Trump said on Saturday in Washington at the Libertarian Party convention, where he was canvassing for support in the presidential election in November.
Ulbricht had operated the drug trafficking platform Silk Road on the Internet and had become a millionaire through it. In addition to drugs, users could also buy weapons and fake IDs on the website and hire contract killers. The transactions were processed using the digital currency Bitcoin. In 2015, Ulbricht was found guilty of drug trafficking, among other things, and sentenced to two life sentences.
The Republican Trump was repeatedly booed during his appearance at the Libertarian Party. But with his announcement that he would ensure Ulbricht's release, he brought the members of the small party to his side. There was even brief cheering in the hall.
There is much support for Ulbricht in libertarian circles: his conviction is criticized by libertarians who advocate an unregulated economy, the legalization of drugs and the abolition of social services as excessive government intervention in the free market economy.
