It has been coming for a long fourth dimension now, but i of the almost notorious trials inwards the history of Bitcoin has come upward to a conclusion. Silk Road possessor as well as operator Ross Ulbricht has been constitute guilty on all charges, as well as volition aspect upward a lifetime judgement inwards prison. Any pleas for leniency convey fallen on deaf ears, as well as U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest has made an event out of Mr. Ulbricht. Anyone amongst plans to operate an online marketplace amongst less than legal activities is hereby officially warned.
Undermining The Law & Facilitating Criminal Transactions
Despite pleading naivete on his end, Ross Ulbricht volition hold upward going away for a really long time. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest deemed Mr. Ulbricht’s actions equally “a carefully planned life’s work”, rather than a sin of youth. Prosecutors labelled Ross equally a “drug kingpin” as well as “a someone who tried to adjust no less than v murders” – none of which were carried out according to the government.
The life judgement is non the exclusively verdict, equally Ross Ulbricht volition convey to forfeit a amount of US$184 million. Said amount allegedly equals the total of imitation ID as well as drug sales documented inwards the official Silk Road records. These records were pose together past times a squad of specialist who managed to follow a trouble of “digital breadcrumbs”, allegedly left behind past times Mr. Ulbricht when conducting his activities on the Silk Road platform.
Ross Ulbricht decided to plead “not guilty” on all charges made against him. Had he pleaded “guilty”, he mightiness convey received a to a greater extent than lenient jail sentence. K2 Intelligence’s Head of Cyber Investigations as well as Incident Response, Austin Berglas, calls the verdict “very sad”. He likewise believes “Ross is a young, highly intelligent as well as motivated individual”.