Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

[gentlemand]

Does the money confiscated go into some anti drug charity or something? Hmm, dumb question, I see.

I believe they sold the bitcoin and it was applied to his debt. Sad part is he still owes a lot of money.

Yeah, they sold the Bitcoins, but where is the money going to?

None of your business. The black hole of general government spending probably.

[JJB]

Does the money confiscated go into some anti drug charity or something? Hmm, dumb question, I see.

I believe they sold the bitcoin and it was applied to his debt. Sad part is he still owes a lot of money.

Yeah, they sold the Bitcoins, but where is the money going to?

I think it  just goes back into the system ie the funds they use to keep the FBI running or whatever. Seems pretty corrupt to me. It's like stealing from thieves to keep your own racket going. The money should be given to charity in my opinion but they'll probably argue the FBI is a non-profit  .

[notrelated2]

Message to Law Enforcement

Dear LE, thank you for reply. i think finally i managed to get your attention. there are few very important things i would like to discuss with you before i begin, there are things i need you to understand first. i will be straight to the point, so it doesnt waste both and everyone else time either let me tell you how the real world works first

1.) you trying to tell me, no matter what we do.. you as LE gonna continue to enforce the law and will put anyone into jail or whatever as long as we have done illegal/ unlawful things. my reply : yes, i know. i have no problem with this.

2.) i also know you as LE are not interested to know why ppl become criminal, nor trying to solve the criminal. your job is just trying to catch them, put them in jail, and let the judge/jury decide the rest. in fact, your job is solely, continue to catch them again and again..and again and again.. this is practically endless.

3.) now let me ask you, do you think what you are doing now is really beneficial to the world? do you think your job is really helping the society? how many criminal you can catch in a month? in a year? busting drug dealers? war on drugs? catching fraudster? are you gonna continue to do the same thing next year and probably for the next 40 years or so until you retire? what do you think a life is? what if i tell you your job is actually harming the society ?

4.) let me reiterate few things which im trying to say over and over again all these while.

5.) you have to understand that, everyone is different. either in biological, mental capacity, physical capacity, level of education, etc.. why? because few thousands years ago, when human no longer hunting and gathering foods, and started agricultural and leads to permanent settlement, establishing village. a society is formed..when a society is formed. it leads to hierarchical society type of structure. where we have leaders and followers

6.) this is where all the problem begins, we have a leaders.. and also the followers. another problem is also when a society has settled down, establishing their own village, house, place..etc we indirectly invented the concept of private ownership. this patch of land is mine, that is yours, this fruit is mine, that is yours, things in your house, etc.. you get the idea, right?

7.) because we have a leaders, and usually general population or the community regard leaders as great ppl. thats why ppl tend to give everything to the leaders. in short, leaders always own a lot more things than anyone else. which in return provides more comfortable living standards

8.) fast forward few hundreds years, leaders will continue to breed and have children. so does the followers (which is poor ppl) will continue to breed and have children.

9.) now we have 2 types of children, 1 from the rich leaders family, and another from the poor family.

10.) children grow up in rich family, have everything they need. generally those ppl able to get better education, in short, building positivity and thus have higher brain capacity

11.) while children in poor family, has less chance to do almost everything.(also have tendency of domestic violence) maybe they have to start working at very young age, there is very little chance to attain good brain capacity.

12.) this is why there are dumb criminal versus smart criminal we'seen today. dumb criminal dont really understand what is going on, neither truly understand the consequences of their action. such as stabbing ppl (eventually killed others) to rob ppl's purse for $5 dollar. etc... putting babies in microwave, etc... you get the idea.

13.) i know you as LE or Cops trying to catch these ppl and put them in jail. when the dumb criminal done their sentences and let out from the jail, and guess what? they are gonna commit the same crime over and over again.. and you as LE gonna spend time chasing these same stupid ppl around again

14.) do you know why dumb criminal will continue to repeat their crime even after come out from jail? IT IS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE GOOD BRAIN CAPACITY! THIS IS A FORM OF MENTAL ILLNESS DONE BY INEQUALITY, PPL IS BROKEN, DAMAGED by the environment, refer back my point number 5 until 11.. as i said, everything today is different because of that.

15.) you may disagree with my point of view, but you are welcomed to do your own research and decide for yourself. what im saying is based on fact and research.

16.) so what we can do about these broken ppl? THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. however, gov trying to brainwash these ppl and turned them into military/soldiers. but there is no such thing as 100% success rate..because everyone have their own level of brain damage /mental injury.

17.) and again, you might disagree if i say this. but the root of the cause is inequality and private ownership. do you think we can change that?

18.) i can assure you that neither us or general population will have any chance to remove the inequality and private ownership. why? because the ruling class have guns, weapons and soldiers which they have spent on few generations back to built it until today. they spent great amount of time and effort to protect their status quo/wealth. this is fact!

19.) you might ask why this has anything to do with you? because you as citizen of a country(doesnt matter which country), which participate in election, then voted a politician, and politician in senate voted the country policy, then voted the president. then president allocate how much money to spent in military..so you are related with these either you like it or not.

20.) now lets go over few facts of today, according to studies..by 2016 the rich top 1% will own more then half of the entire earth's wealth and resource. that means the rest of the 6.99999999 billion ppl will have to fight against each other of that 40% shares

21.) as i said previously, from point number 8 until 11. the upper class will continue advance in everything, including brain capacity. while the majority bottom class will continue to breed more broken ppl.. thus more criminal in our society.

22. ) so let me ask you again, do you think your job as LE really beneficial to the society and whole world!? it is a disgrace! you are merely the tools to protect the ruling class, you have been lied, misused, abused, mistreated by your own government.

23.) you are too naive to believe government will help ppl and society, they will do the exact opposite! so you want proof of what i said? look at the ruling class spending infinite amount of money on military! (while 80% of the ppl in entire world still make less than 10 dollar a day) do you know what is the point of having military? it is to rob and steal from others! for eg: in iraq war, everyone know it is obvious trying to steal oil.. now we have ISIS which is completely made up by gov to fear citizen, thus impose terrorism law and restrict freedom of general population. why? because the ruling class is afraid, they are very afraid of majority ppl rise up and protest at government. because if we do..the business and economy stops.. when businesses stops..the rich cant make any money off from you!

24.) what i said is truth, if you disagree..its not my business. even you can put me in jail now..but as i demonstrated to you..it neither will solve the crime and benefit to the society. even if im out from jail, i will continue to commit crime because no one will care, nobody will care either how much criminal you have caught, your boss is too stupid to figure out anything real in our world, he/she needs to defend/protect his own ass too.

25.) you as LE, let me ask you what would you get by catching us? there are 6.99999 billion poor ppl out there, continue to fuck and breed broken ppl, broken criminal will continue to rise as long as the ruling class continue to oppress majority, continue to build their multimillion yatch, mansion via taxpayers money. so what is the point really?

26.) due to this, i encourage LE become corrupt and cooperate with us. why? because if we cooperate we actually can make the world a better place. you might think my idea sounds ridiculous..but in fact it is the viable solution. so how we can cooperate?

27.) the very thing we can do is via attack the bank. when bank incur losses, the shareholder usually is the politician, or proxy person in government. it is better trying take the money away from government, instead let the government using that money to build destructive nuclear weapons, guns, and hiring soldiers. so any LE willing to cooperate in bank fraud?

28.) or you can choose to be good LE, and abide laws.. hahaha! as i said in point 20 and 21, you either remain as slaves for the rest of your life, none cares.. or you can try fight back and tell the masters/ruling class you no longer wants to play their greedy game anymore. you might worth die trying because your children and grandchildren will be thankful to you in the future.

[jmurjeff]

Does the money confiscated go into some anti drug charity or something? Hmm, dumb question, I see.

I believe they sold the bitcoin and it was applied to his debt. Sad part is he still owes a lot of money.

Yeah, they sold the Bitcoins, but where is the money going to?

10% usually goes to the prosecuting office funds. 20-30% goes to mental and health addictions programs I believe. The rest goes to the agencies or agency that actually seized the money. In this case the FBI gets most of it. If this was not considered a drug case they probably would get even more.

[S4VV4S]

I know a couple people who have died from heroin OD's and several more who's lives have been ruined by their addiction...

Most of the world's H is supplied from Afghanistan...

Thanks a lot America .....................

Some government officials are making a serious killing off those opium fields.

Literally!!!

I thought the U.S. didn't believe in torture? If they decided that they never wanted him to be in society again for the rest of his life then the death penalty is the humane action. Spending 50 years trapped in a box until you're insane is cruel and inhumane. If he was a dog and you locked it in a box for a year and got caught you'd be punished. Do people have less value than a dog to the U.S. Government?

I understand your point but, this is how it is:
A dog did not do anything wrong and didn't choose to be locked in a box.
So when someone locks the dog in a box, they did something wrong, so they deserve to be locked in a box themselves.

But yeah, to the subject, it is torture considering they know better on what goes on in jail.

[Beliathon]

Message to Law Enforcement

(...)

3.) now let me ask you, do you think what you are doing now is really beneficial to the world?

The overwhelming majority of both active military and police are not doing it for altruistic reasons, they are doing it because it is reliable career option for terrified young people with no or few other options. There's a reason you always see military recruiters centers near community colleges and high schools in poor neighborhoods.  Like the person jumping from the window of a burning building, for people raised in relative poverty, any way out is good enough. The way they (accurately) see it, at least on the police force they have a future, will have a chance to make friends and get laid.

In most places, being a police officer isn't actually all that dangerous. It's much safer than being a garbageman, for example. Still, if you offered these folks a career with equal pay and similar benefits that didn't involve the risk of being shot, many of them would probably take it. But for most of them such a life is a privilege they will never have. Like nearly all of us do, they're behaving rationally in their own self interest. They're not considering that being paid to violate the non-aggression principle is fundamentally unethical regardless of the circumstances. That sort of thinking is reserved for people who live in a different world, a world of safety and comfort, of couches and laptops and cofeeshops.

When an 18 year old poor kid decides to sign up for the army during wartime, he is essentially saying "I'll try my luck with this new hell, it can't possibly be worse than the hell I'm coming from". And most of them are probably right.



Most of them.

[The One]

People who engage in free market activities voluntarily, whereas no harm is done to others, do so to make a living because they disagree with the state dictating what is legal (alcohol, ciggies) and what is illegal (drugs). The more free market we have, the less taxes the politicians will get their grubby hands on and eventually 'bankrupt' the evil regime. People will then be free to enact peaceful voluntary trades.

[fatguyyyyy]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

[gentlemand]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

No one was ever disappointed by overestimating the wrath of the US justice machine.

[newflesh]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

I doubt it, the US gov wants to set "an example" of Ross to try and deter future darkmarkets from eating into their supply chain. Agreed his sentence is insane by any standards, mass murderers have probably got more lenient sentences. Shit even Chilean war criminals have been allowed to live freely in America yet some kid with a laptop gets life behind bars...

[spud21]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

I doubt it, the US gov wants to set "an example" of Ross to try and deter future darkmarkets from eating into their supply chain. Agreed his sentence is insane by any standards, mass murderers have probably got more lenient sentences. Shit even Chilean war criminals have been allowed to live freely in America yet some kid with a laptop gets life behind bars...

I don't think his appeal will be successful either. They caught him red handed and he admitted to some of it.

Is there any news about which prison they have sent him to yet?

What category is it, and how harsh are the conditions? I don't even know here they were holding him while he was awaiting the trial.

[master sato]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

No one was ever disappointed by overestimating the wrath of the US justice machine.

Maybe it was because of multiple instances. I'm guessing there will be an appeal.

[Bitware]

For an appeal to be successful, the defense has to prove reversible error from the previous court. What needs to be concentrated on is what the court did wrong, ruled wrong on, or if they violated the defendants rights in some manner. Severity of sentence is not reversible error, because the sentence was within the sentencing guidelines.

[moriartybitcoin]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

I doubt it, the US gov wants to set "an example" of Ross to try and deter future darkmarkets from eating into their supply chain. Agreed his sentence is insane by any standards, mass murderers have probably got more lenient sentences. Shit even Chilean war criminals have been allowed to live freely in America yet some kid with a laptop gets life behind bars...

I don't think his appeal will be successful either. They caught him red handed and he admitted to some of it.

Is there any news about which prison they have sent him to yet?

What category is it, and how harsh are the conditions? I don't even know here they were holding him while he was awaiting the trial.

I read somewhere he was being sent to ADX Florence Supermax, the harshest prison in the country.  Probably going to be passing notes to the Unabomber. Solitary confinement for life

[spud21]

For an appeal to be successful, the defense has to prove reversible error from the previous court. What needs to be concentrated on is what the court did wrong, ruled wrong on, or if they violated the defendants rights in some manner. Severity of sentence is not reversible error, because the sentence was within the sentencing guidelines.

I'm sure he'll have an appeal and try to argue that agents involved in the case were not impartial because they stole Bitcoins. Nevertheless they caught him with his laptop open and logged into the silk road as admin. There is no way he can argue he wan't heavily involved in it despite the corrupt agents.

[Cryddit]

Right.  He goes to jail.  He goes directly to jail.  He does not pass go, he does not collect 200 bitcoins. 

And good fucking riddance. 

I do sort of feel bad for the guy.  Federal prisons in the US are harsher than some third-world prisons, and the treatment of prisoners is sometimes unconstitutionally harsh.  But that's a different issue.

EVERYBODY is better off with him in jail. Consider that Silk Road was not just drugs.  It was also arms deals that contributed to gang warfare, religious jihad, and criminal murder.  It was also extortion payments, slave sales to and by pimps including sales of underage girls for use as prostitutes, and transfers of money to jihadists and other damned murderers. 

This was all going on through his website, as well as him putting out a murder-for-hire contract?  He is exactly the sort of person that the nation has the right and duty to separate from society for the sake of the welfare of all its citizens. 

As far as Bitcoin is concerned, these are growing pains.  Give the Lions a bit of time to adjust to the new technology, and you're going to see crooks getting busted absolutely regardless of whether they're using bitcoin. And that's the way it needs to be. 

[QuestionAuthority]

Right.  He goes to jail.  He goes directly to jail.  He does not pass go, he does not collect 200 bitcoins. 

And good fucking riddance. 

I do sort of feel bad for the guy.  Federal prisons in the US are harsher than some third-world prisons, and the treatment of prisoners is sometimes unconstitutionally harsh.  But that's a different issue.

EVERYBODY is better off with him in jail. Consider that Silk Road was not just drugs.  It was also arms deals that contributed to gang warfare, religious jihad, and criminal murder.  It was also extortion payments, slave sales to and by pimps including sales of underage girls for use as prostitutes, and transfers of money to jihadists and other damned murderers. 

This was all going on through his website, as well as him putting out a murder-for-hire contract?  He is exactly the sort of person that the nation has the right and duty to separate from society for the sake of the welfare of all its citizens. 

As far as Bitcoin is concerned, these are growing pains.  Give the Lions a bit of time to adjust to the new technology, and you're going to see crooks getting busted absolutely regardless of whether they're using bitcoin. And that's the way it needs to be. 

But without him Bitcoin would never have gotten off the ground. No Slashdot article. No Galker article. No influx of idealistic young people coming to this forum fascinated by the idea of this anonymous money that lets you buy drugs online. He made Bitcoin what it is today.

[Bitware]

Right.  He goes to jail.  He goes directly to jail.  He does not pass go, he does not collect 200 bitcoins. 

And good fucking riddance. 

I do sort of feel bad for the guy.  Federal prisons in the US are harsher than some third-world prisons, and the treatment of prisoners is sometimes unconstitutionally harsh.  But that's a different issue.

EVERYBODY is better off with him in jail. Consider that Silk Road was not just drugs.  It was also arms deals that contributed to gang warfare, religious jihad, and criminal murder.  It was also extortion payments, slave sales to and by pimps including sales of underage girls for use as prostitutes, and transfers of money to jihadists and other damned murderers. 

This was all going on through his website, as well as him putting out a murder-for-hire contract?  He is exactly the sort of person that the nation has the right and duty to separate from society for the sake of the welfare of all its citizens. 

As far as Bitcoin is concerned, these are growing pains.  Give the Lions a bit of time to adjust to the new technology, and you're going to see crooks getting busted absolutely regardless of whether they're using bitcoin. And that's the way it needs to be. 

But without him Bitcoin would never have gotten off the ground. No Slashdot article. No Galker article. No influx of idealistic young people coming to this forum fascinated by the idea of this anonymous money that lets you buy drugs online. He made Bitcoin what it is today.

John Wayne Gacy was a doting father and husband, successful businessman, community leader, active Democrat in politics, a philanthropic community volunteer and even had an approved Secret Service clearance for political events...

[spud21]

his sentence will most likely be overturned on appeal .. life in prison for a computer crime is absurd even by draconian US standards

I doubt it, the US gov wants to set "an example" of Ross to try and deter future darkmarkets from eating into their supply chain. Agreed his sentence is insane by any standards, mass murderers have probably got more lenient sentences. Shit even Chilean war criminals have been allowed to live freely in America yet some kid with a laptop gets life behind bars...

I don't think his appeal will be successful either. They caught him red handed and he admitted to some of it.

Is there any news about which prison they have sent him to yet?

What category is it, and how harsh are the conditions? I don't even know here they were holding him while he was awaiting the trial.

I read somewhere he was being sent to ADX Florence Supermax, the harshest prison in the country.  Probably going to be passing notes to the Unabomber. Solitary confinement for life

I found this article explaining his sentence and where he will probably do his time.

http://cointelegraph.com/news/114463/silk-roads-ross-ulbricht-sentencing-details-revealed

The five crimes Ross Ulbricht was convicted of, for all of which he pled “not guilty,” include:

Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Drugs
Continuing Criminal Enterprise
Computer hacking Conspiracy
Fraud with Identification Documents
Money Laundering Conspiracy

It says he will be sent to FCI Petersburg I in Virginia if he is not deemed to be a “public safety factor” risk.

FCI Petersburg I is a lower security prison. If he is deemed a “public safety factor” risk he will be sent to USP Tuscon in Arizona or USP Coleman II “as a second choice,” in Florida.

[bocobit]

I predict that Ross will not die in prison.  Someone once told me that marijuana would be legalized in our lifetime.  Seemed far out at the time but it has happened and will continue to happen across the country.  Just a prediction but I think that Ross will be pardoned down the road.