Trump pardons founder of dark web market Silk Road

In one of his first actions after starting his second term as US President, Donald Trump has issued a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

The platform – which was a notorious source of a plethora of illicit goods including illegal drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods – was shut down in 2013 after a major law enforcement operation. Ulbricht, who ran the site under the alias Dread P{irate Roberts, was convicted in 2015 in New York on charges involving narcotics and money laundering and sentenced to life in prison.

At its height, an estimated 1m anonymous users were using Silk Road, including terrorist organisations and organised crime networks as well as those purchasing their goods and services – including contract killings – using Bitcoin.

Prosecutors estimated at the time that Ulbricht pocketed $18m in commissions on the transactions – a figure that has swelled to billions of dollars with the huge increase in Bitcoin value.

"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social media site. "He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"

Silk Road took its name from the historical network of trade routes established during the Han Dynasty of China. A second version of the site was launched shortly after the first was shut down but was also removed in November 2014.

Trump's decision to pardon Ulbricht in his second term, rather than the first, has raised some eyebrows, but it makes good a promise he made last year at a convention held by the Libertarian Party, which argues for limited government and robust civil liberties.

At the event, he said: "If you vote for me, on Day 1 I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to a sentence of time served."