A $3 Billion Silk Road Seizure Will Erase Ross Ulbricht's Debt (wired.com) 71
In a twist, a massive trove of stolen bitcoins will repay the dark web market creator's $183 million restitution. Wired: Ross Ulbricht, the convicted creator of the legendary Silk Road dark web market for drugs, has never gotten much mercy from the US legal system. In 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. His appeal was denied, as was the pardon he sought from President Trump. But a little over a year ago, it appears Ulbricht finally got a break of a different kind: The nine-figure debt he owed to the US government as part of his sentence will be erased -- all thanks to the fortuitous hoarding of a hacker who'd stolen a massive trove of bitcoins from his market.
Last year, prosecutors quietly signed an agreement with Ulbricht stipulating that a portion of a newfound trove of Silk Road bitcoins, seized from an unnamed hacker, will be used to cancel out the more than $183 million in restitution Ulbricht was ordered to pay as part of his 2015 sentence, a number calculated from the total illegal sales of the Silk Road based on exchange rates at the time of each transaction. Despite the fact that the more recently unearthed stash of bitcoins -- now worth billions of dollars -- was itself criminal proceeds, the Justice Department appears to have made a deal with Ulbricht to avoid any claim he might have made to the money: In exchange for Ulbricht's agreement to waive any ownership he might have of the bitcoins, a portion of them will be used to pay off his restitution in its entirety.
"The parties agree that the net proceeds realized from the sale of the [bitcoins] forfeited pursuant to this agreement shall be credited toward any unpaid balance of the Money Judgment," reads a court filing from last year, using the phrase "money judgment" to refer to Ulbricht's 2015 restitution order. The document, filed in February of 2021, is signed by both Ulbricht and David Countryman, a prosecutor in the asset forfeiture unit of the US Attorney's office for the Northern District of California. The Department of Justice didn't respond to WIRED's request for comment.
Ulbricht, of course, still faces life in prison. He has already served eight years of that sentence at jails in New York and penitentiaries in Colorado and Arizona. But the repayment of his restitution could mean that he's able to earn money in prison to share with family or friends without it being seized or garnished to pay his debts -- or even keep any previously unknown caches of bitcoins that he may possess, so long as they aren't tied to the Silk Road or other criminal sources. And if his sentence is eventually commuted, as his supporters and a years-long Free Ross campaign have petitioned for since even before his sentencing, he would reenter the world as a free man without hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
Last year, prosecutors quietly signed an agreement with Ulbricht stipulating that a portion of a newfound trove of Silk Road bitcoins, seized from an unnamed hacker, will be used to cancel out the more than $183 million in restitution Ulbricht was ordered to pay as part of his 2015 sentence, a number calculated from the total illegal sales of the Silk Road based on exchange rates at the time of each transaction. Despite the fact that the more recently unearthed stash of bitcoins -- now worth billions of dollars -- was itself criminal proceeds, the Justice Department appears to have made a deal with Ulbricht to avoid any claim he might have made to the money: In exchange for Ulbricht's agreement to waive any ownership he might have of the bitcoins, a portion of them will be used to pay off his restitution in its entirety.
"The parties agree that the net proceeds realized from the sale of the [bitcoins] forfeited pursuant to this agreement shall be credited toward any unpaid balance of the Money Judgment," reads a court filing from last year, using the phrase "money judgment" to refer to Ulbricht's 2015 restitution order. The document, filed in February of 2021, is signed by both Ulbricht and David Countryman, a prosecutor in the asset forfeiture unit of the US Attorney's office for the Northern District of California. The Department of Justice didn't respond to WIRED's request for comment.
Ulbricht, of course, still faces life in prison. He has already served eight years of that sentence at jails in New York and penitentiaries in Colorado and Arizona. But the repayment of his restitution could mean that he's able to earn money in prison to share with family or friends without it being seized or garnished to pay his debts -- or even keep any previously unknown caches of bitcoins that he may possess, so long as they aren't tied to the Silk Road or other criminal sources. And if his sentence is eventually commuted, as his supporters and a years-long Free Ross campaign have petitioned for since even before his sentencing, he would reenter the world as a free man without hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
Crash BTC (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
It already is. The MtGox restitution is imminent and that's stopping many people from trying to buy the lows right now.
Re: (Score:1)
The MtGox restitution has been "imminent" for years. The trustee won't let go of his goldmine until bitcoin has crashed and he can't bilk everyone for his own enrichment anymore by dragging things out indefinitely.
Ridiculous Fines (Score:5, Insightful)
While I disagree with the criminal activity, I'm not too fond of the stupidity of someone getting sentenced to life without parole and then piling on huge debts on top of it in terms of restitution. Sure, go after his assets but AFAIK they already seized his bitcoins and auctioned those off, so what does this guy have left? $183m is just dog piling. Indeed, the 8th Amendment must apply here.
Re:Ridiculous Fines (Score:5, Interesting)
The bigger issue is that his sentence is life in prison only because the judge "believes" he ordered a murder -- a charge he was not afforded the chance to defend. There was not enough evidence to charge and convict him of murder but the judge sentenced him like he was guilty of it without him having the chance to defend himself from the charges.
Re:Ridiculous Fines (Score:4, Interesting)
"believed." If that were the case, his lawyer has an appeal route but remarkably I don't see anybody standing up in terms of the ACLU et al. to come to his aid.
There are no appeals pending and this guy will rot in prison. Now, if it had been smart and donated money to either major political party, I'm sure the concept of a pardon would come up but unfortunately, it looks like that didn't happen either. To a point where we need to draw a line and ridiculous sentencing. "You are sentenced to 184 life sentences, all to be served sequentially and you must pay $100 billion in restitution.." at that point it just makes the legal system look very stupid.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
The ACLU is a garbage organization and no longer gives a fuck about human rights or civil liberties. They have lost their entire original goal and vision, embrace woke ideology and no one should donate any money. If you want to support an organization that is actually defending civil liberties, I've herd good things about Fire: https://www.thefire.org/ [thefire.org], though I feel I still need to read more about them to vet them properly.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
The ACLU literally supports mandatory experimental drugs. That is the ultimate violation of personal autonomy and human rights.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The bigger issue is that his sentence is life in prison only because the judge "believes" he ordered a murder -- a charge he was not afforded the chance to defend. There was not enough evidence to charge and convict him of murder but the judge sentenced him like he was guilty of it without him having the chance to defend himself from the charges.
I don't think this is accurate. While it is correct that he was not charged for 5 possible murder for hire schemes, evidence that he paid off some people to kill (but they just took his money) was introduced into his trial. If you're telling me his attorneys were too stupid to argue against it and said something like "Liar, liar, pants on fire" then I understand why such an argument was not successful.
Re:Ridiculous Fines (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh really, if the evidence was so great why wasn't he charged with attempted homicide? His attorneys were probably focussed on defending the charges presented. It is really fishy that he wasn't charged with first degree attempted murder. Last I checked the law is supposed to punish you for crimes you have been charged with, afforded a chance to properly defend, and then found guilty for.
Re: (Score:2)
He was prosecuted by the feds. Which federal attempted-murder law do you think they should have charged him with violating? Keep in mind that attempted murder requires first-person action to attempt to kill the victim -- trying to get someone else to commit murder is a different set of crimes. Crimes like conspiracy to commit murder and murder-for-hire are easier to make a federal case for because they only require use of interstate communications.
Re: (Score:2)
He had years of chat logs and emails on his computer where he was running Silk Road.
Those logs included the murder conspiracies.
A judge can consider all available evidence.
That sentence saved us the expense of a second trial for the murder charges. I'm fine with that. Dude is scum and belongs in prison.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh really, if the evidence was so great why wasn't he charged with attempted homicide? His attorneys were probably focussed on defending the charges presented. It is really fishy that he wasn't charged with first degree attempted murder. Last I checked the law is supposed to punish you for crimes you have been charged with, afforded a chance to properly defend, and then found guilty for.
His sentence is double life imprisonment plus forty years, without the possibility of parole [wikipedia.org]. He's never getting out of prison and his alleged targets don't necessarily benefit from another trial (not like they need justice for what didn't happen to them). What's the benefit to anyone in holding another trial?
Re:Ridiculous Fines (Score:5, Insightful)
I know you're just trolling, but I don't think you realize just how important the 2nd amendment really is. It's not a joke or something to dismiss trivially. Some people complain the 2nd did help prevent lockdowns or government overreach. That's not what the 2nd amendment is for. It's for a time that hasn't come yet ... a time when America will no longer be recognize by people as America. It's not a time anyone should want. But when it comes, if the world gets to a collapse, the rights of citizens to own weapons and defend themselves will be the most important right we could ever possibly have. It will be the difference between establishing security or a Miloevi style genocide.
Re:Ridiculous Fines (Score:4, Insightful)
I know you're just trolling, but I don't think you realize just how important the 2nd amendment really is. It's not a joke or something to dismiss trivially. Some people complain the 2nd did help prevent lockdowns or government overreach. That's not what the 2nd amendment is for. It's for a time that hasn't come yet ... a time when America will no longer be recognize by people as America. It's not a time anyone should want. But when it comes, if the world gets to a collapse, the rights of citizens to own weapons and defend themselves will be the most important right we could ever possibly have. It will be the difference between establishing security or a Miloevi style genocide.
In other words its for a fantasy scenario that exists only in your head and will never have any positive or useful effects to balance out the horrendous real and ongoing negative effects it has all across the US.
You need to grow up and stop believing in fairytales.
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
Try talking to the astronomical numbers of women and minorities who spent the last few years defending their homes and families during nationwide riots that caused 50+ deaths and over two billion dollars in damages.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean the police riots? Not much you can do about them with just a gun, they're too well armed and have armored vehicles.
Fucking pigs need to be brought under control.
Re: (Score:2)
Try talking to the astronomical numbers of women and minorities who spent the last few years defending their homes and families during nationwide riots that caused 50+ deaths and over two billion dollars in damages.
"Astronomical" meaning numbers that you saw floating in the sky? There were a couple of dozen deaths that occurred that long summer of protest but when examined [theguardian.com] the majority of them of them were a collection of white "2nd Amendment" killers, police executions (the very thing being protested), a mentally ill man, and so on, rather than actual protesters (very few of these can be identified).
The damages reported in Wikipedia and actual news sources place it at $1-2 billion, which is substantial but less than
Re: (Score:3)
Tell it to the local militias in Ukraine who are still raiding the supply lines of Russian occupation forces... many of them with privately owned rifles.
Re: (Score:1)
Tell it to the local militias in Ukraine who are still raiding the supply lines of Russian occupation forces... many of them with privately owned rifles.
Right. Because that's a realistic scenario for people living in Montana.
Grow up and stop playing cowboys and indians.
Re: (Score:2)
grow up and stop dismissing other people youve decided are below you. child.
You are below me and your moronic, childish, view has been shown to be idiotic and invalid many many times. People are dying now so that you can proudly strut about how you're saving everyone in some improbable future from a harm which, if it ever came, would completely overwhelm a "well-armed militia".
So take your silly guns and stick them where the sun don't shine, you sad deluded paranoid fruit-loop.
Re: (Score:3)
I know you're just trolling, but I don't think you realize just how important the 2nd amendment really is. It's not a joke or something to dismiss trivially. Some people complain the 2nd did help prevent lockdowns or government overreach. That's not what the 2nd amendment is for. It's for a time that hasn't come yet ... a time when America will no longer be recognize by people as America. It's not a time anyone should want. But when it comes, if the world gets to a collapse, the rights of citizens to own weapons and defend themselves will be the most important right we could ever possibly have. It will be the difference between establishing security or a Miloevi style genocide.
I don't think that scenario is very likely.
But this idea in a certain portion of the American public that you should have a bunch of armed folks wandering around to prevent government tyranny a very traditional "the strong must lead to protect the weak" philosophy. It's exactly the thing that repeatedly spawns tyrants like Putin and Orban who are traditional darlings among far-right factions.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you or someone else explain why he even bothered to pay it off with this deal? Being as he is stuck in prison for the rest of his life, only able to earn peanuts to spend in the prison shop, does owning the government $180 million make any difference to him?
Are they taking his pennies for toiletries away or something?
Life in prison seems pointless. Okay he suffers, but the taxpayer gets the cost of keeping him there. Is his suffering worth that much? Wouldn't it make sense to say he can be released once
Re: (Score:3)
Can you or someone else explain why he even bothered to pay it off with this deal? Being as he is stuck in prison for the rest of his life, only able to earn peanuts to spend in the prison shop, does owning the government $180 million make any difference to him?
"or even keep any previously unknown caches of bitcoins that he may possess, so long as they aren't tied to the Silk Road or other criminal sources. And if his sentence is eventually commuted, as his supporters and a years-long Free Ross campaign have petitioned for since even before his sentencing, he would reenter the world as a free man without hundreds of millions of dollars in debt."
Re: (Score:1)
Life in prison seems pointless. Okay he suffers, but the taxpayer gets the cost of keeping him there. Is his suffering worth that much? Wouldn't it make sense to say he can be released once he is fully rehabilitated and able to contribute to society?
The US legal system is religion-inspired and all about revenge. Not very useful, ineffective, barbaric, primitive, but look at other things happening in that country and it makes sense.
Re: (Score:1)
It sure would. But to a large extent, the US prison system is about punishment, not rehabilitation. The existence of sentences that deny the possibility of parole is a sign that the designers don't really believe in rehabilitation.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why did he give it up though? Why not fight for it? It seems he has nothing to lose all a lot to gain.
Re: (Score:3)
This situation seems a bit funny, but it's all pretty rational.
He's being treated like a drug lord (I suppose because he was a drug lord). The Government found his Swiss bank account. He now has a choice for how we wants to proceed. The fact that he's serving a life sentence without possibility of parole is g
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting, thanks.
Turned down plea deal (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
> he did order a few murders
That was never proven. In fact, the "evidence" for the alleged murder-for-hire orders was so flimsy and bogus that he was never charged on four out of five of them, and the prosecution dropped the charges on the one instance that they did bother to file. That's not to say he wasn't kind of a scummy guy. But he should only be judged on what he did in reality, not in the fever dreams of overzealous cops who want to portray themselves as some kind of heroes for bringing down s
Re: (Score:2)
For us though, a written confession for multiple murder-for-hire conspiracies is enough for us to say "he did order a few murders".
It should also be noted that the US only dropped those charges after the Supreme Court denied hearing his final appeal for his life sentence.
I.e., they dropped them after there was a 0% chance that he could get out of prison.
You have no idea how flimsy or bogus that evi
Re: (Score:2)
It's incredibly stupid that a person deemed not dangerous enough to lock up permanently is locked up for life with no chance of parole. The American "justice" system is truly perverse. He is certainly a criminal, but having both of those options on the table cannot in any sense of the word be considered just.
Re: Turned down plea deal (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
He had the opportunity to reach a deal, with a certain outcome rather than risking losing in court. Even if the Feds won, there was no certainty as to what sentence a judge hands down.
I understand the mechanism. The mechanism exists, but that does not make it just.
From reading articles about his case, he was dangerous even if no one was killed by his purported hits.
But was he "10 years in prison" dangerous or "life without parole" dangerous? It cannot be both, therefore a system with both options on the ta
Re: (Score:2)
He had the opportunity to reach a deal, with a certain outcome rather than risking losing in court. Even if the Feds won, there was no certainty as to what sentence a judge hands down.
I understand the mechanism. The mechanism exists, but that does not make it just..
I disagree. If a person knows they guilty, offering an opportunity to avoid the uncertainty of a trial and subsequent sentences makes sense. If you decide to roll the dice, it's on you. I would agree the system is tilted to the prosecution, because they can and often will pile everything on, to basically make rolling the dice a potentially costly option. But in teh end he did teh cimes.We also do not know the details of his deal, he may have had other requirements such as helping trace criminals using Silk
Re: (Score:3)
The government seashore would have cleared his debt
Voice wreck ignition need said it Tang.
"Web Market for Drugs"? (Score:2)
Really? That's what they're going with?
Drugs is probably what 'speaks to the audience', but oh man that doesn't even come close to what Silk Road was.
Re: (Score:3)
From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)#Operations)
In March 2013, the site had 10,000 products for sale by vendors, 70% of which were drugs. Drugs were grouped under the headings stimulants, psychedelics, prescription, precursors, other, opioids, ecstasy, dissociatives, and steroids/PEDs. Fake driver's licenses were also offered for sale. The site's terms of service prohibited the sale of certain items. When the Silk Road marketplace first began, the creator and administrators instituted terms of service that prohibited the sale of anything whose purpose was to "harm or defraud".
billionaire (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
However, this is kind of a win for everybody. There is actually money available for restitution which rarely happe
Re: (Score:2)
if it's his money and can be used to settle his debts, why will he not emerge from prison a billionaire ?
Emerge from prison? He is serving a sentence of life without parole. Ill gotten gains and all that aside, not sure being a dead billionaire is all that useful.
Supporters? (Score:2)
as his supporters and a years-long Free Ross campaign
What am I missing here? Isn't this guy basically a bastard?
Re: (Score:2)
He's a darling of of cryptobro libertarians who whistle and look the other way from the fact that he ordered a few murders in the process of running his darknet criminal market that was totally stickin' it to the man.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but everyone has their ideological followers. There are sub-sects of Anarchists, Libertarians, promoters of narcotic deregulation, crypto-bros, and on and on.
Re: (Score:1)
It doesn't matter how bad he was. Anyone famous enough will attract some kooky, devoted followers. If you look at the trial of almost every famous serial killer, there are people who show up eager to marry them.
Do NOT let this guy out (Score:1)
Downmod incoming in 3..2..1..
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
If you are attempting to "correct" what you perceive as a societal ill, you attack supply AND demand.
Re: (Score:3)
No. What you do is take a step back and check first whether you are about to do more damage than the "ill" you are trying to fight. That step was obviously never done in the US.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought I was clear I was constraining my comment to a very narrow scope - if you broaden it out to include all sorts of philosophy there's no end of nitpicking and refinement you can do.
If you intend to do A, you need to do B. I make no claim further than that. "Take a step back" can be addressed by somebody else.
Re: (Score:2)
Relax. This is Slashdot. There are no established rules on how to discuss anything. Some people do not even read the comments they reply to.
Re: (Score:1)
Maybe Joey will let him out before he departs the WH.
Is silk road still a going concern? (Score:2)
I'm asking for a friend...
Re: (Score:2)
I'm asking for a friend...
Yes.
Sincerely,
Totally Not the FBI
US vs Venezuela (Score:2)
The US government may deny all they want but they probably have more BTC holdings than Venezuela....
proassetrecoveryexpert.com is the best (Score:1)