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Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

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Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#481

Post by zik »

rappatic wrote: post #164

I think his original sentence was absolutely deserved—even though the charge of hiring a contract killer to assassinate his business competition may have been dropped, I think it's clear he did many things in the same vein. Even if you support his original pursuit of a free and open online marketplace, I think most people would agree he took it a bridge too far in the end. That said, I do think he absolutely deserved…

They dropped the contract killer charges - it appears that they were fabricated to try to turn public opinion against him and get him jailed. But as soon as they went to trial the charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#482

Post by vasco »

wolfgang42 wrote: post #307
remram wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When the FBI agents stopped to have a drink I thought You mean "when I read the part where the FBI agents stopped to have a drink I thought"? This part makes your comment super confusing. Where you there then or later?

I thought that starting my story in media res would make for a better dramatic effect, but it seems I overestimated my audience and went a little too heavy on the narrative ellipsis.

I've seen this type of thing recently and also have been told some comments were "obviously" meaning something else. I think people must've stopped reading books and lost interpretation skills.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#483

Post by zik »

fsckboy wrote: post #196
steve_avery wrote: post #55

Well, I think that justice has been served. The feds' prosecution of Ulbricht was the epitome of throwing the book at someone to make an example, when the government's case was pretty flawed, in my opinion. 10 years is enough time to pay the debt of running the silk road. I am glad that Ulbricht has been pardoned and I feel like a small iota of justice has been returned to the world with this action.

wasn't there evidence of hiring a hitman to commit a murder in furtherance of the Silk Road? that's not part of "the debt of running the silk road"

There wasn't any evidence that actually happened. It appears that it may have been fabricated by the same investigators that later robbed him of some millions of dollars worth of bitcoin. Then when it went to trial the murder-for-hire charges were completely dropped due to lack of evidence.

He was convicted of:

  1. Conspiracy to traffic narcotics
  2. Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE) (sometimes referred to as the “kingpin” charge)
  3. Computer Hacking Conspiracy
  4. Conspiracy to Traffic in Fraudulent Identity Documents
  5. Money Laundering Conspiracy

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#484

Post by TeMPOraL »

Satam wrote: post #397
syspec wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, it went over my head a bit, you read about his arrest while he was being arrested?

I had the same confusion initially, interestingly chat GPT gets it: So while wolfgang42 wasn't there when Ulbricht was actually arrested, their realization created a vivid mental image of the event unfolding in that space, which made the story feel more immersive. In short: they were reading about an old event, but it happened to occur in the same spot they were sitting at that moment. Hope that clears it up!

> their realization created a vivid mental image of the event unfolding in that space, which made the story feel more immersive.

Glad that ChatGPT, probably like GP themselves, is a visualizer and actually can create a "vivid mental image" of something. For those of us with aphantasia, that is not a thing. Myself, I too was mighty confused by the text, which read literally like a time travel story, and was only missing a cat and tomorrow's newspaper.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#485

Post by Aurornis »

sidcool wrote: post #270

I'm indifferent to him being pardoned. But people saying he didn't deserve any punishment seems weird to me.

It’s always interesting to see how he’s become a folk hero to some people who can do a lot of mental gymnastics to downplay the fact that he tried to hire a hitman to kill people. It’s weird to read all of the comments trying to discount the attempted murder because it didn’t actually happen.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#486

Post by osrec »

blast wrote: post #275
sidcool wrote: post #270

I'm indifferent to him being pardoned. But people saying he didn't deserve any punishment seems weird to me.

To me too. But life without parole seemed weird as well.

To me what is weird is the "complete" pardon from a president that is supposedly going after immigrant drug dealers and murderers.

Basically, if you've done something wrong, but can drum up enough support for the winning political candidate, you get a chance to cut a deal and wipe the slate clean.

To those that say he's rehabilitated etc, I'm sure there were other worthy prisoners too, but why does this particular guy happen to get the pardon on day one?!

Same with the pardoned capitol rioters.

It just feels like a very slippery downwards slope, where political back scratching trumps everything else.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#487

Post by offsign »

rappatic wrote: post #164

I think his original sentence was absolutely deserved—even though the charge of hiring a contract killer to assassinate his business competition may have been dropped, I think it's clear he did many things in the same vein. Even if you support his original pursuit of a free and open online marketplace, I think most people would agree he took it a bridge too far in the end. That said, I do think he absolutely deserved…

"he took it a bridge too far" is a massive trivialization.

The guy operated a marketplace for illegal goods in order to enrich himself. The illegality wasn't just incidental, it was literally his business model -- by flouting the law, he enjoyed massive market benefit (minimal competition, lack of regulation, high margins etc) by exploiting the arbitrage that the rest of us follow the rules.

Said a different way, he knowingly pursued enormous risk in order to achieve outsized benefits, and ultimately his bet blew up on him -- we shouldn't have bailed him out.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#488

Post by jimt1234 »

dimator wrote: post #396
southernplaces7 wrote: post #380

For all his many defects and cloudy motives for doing it, Trump deserves applause for this. It's with actions such as this that he also shows why he's a genuine maverick of a president, with who it's genuinely possible to expect deeply unexpected actions (for better or worse). For all his talk of being progressive and cultivation of a youthful maverick image of his own, you would have never seen such a move from Obam…

the fact that he will never pardon Snowden tells you all you need to know: this pardon was pandering and suits his own purposes. there are no higher principles here besides quid pro quo.

I wouldn't even call it pandering. He straight-up said the pardon was because the libertarians supported him.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#489

Post by osrec »

notfed wrote: post #469
bdhcuidbebe wrote: post #112

Will he get his possesions back then? 50,676 bitcoins, today valued at 5,3 billion USD. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-announces-h...

I don't think it's crazy to suspect that Ulbricht knows a password or two and cut a deal here.

Yeah, something's a little fishy about the whole thing.

Re: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon

#490

Post by k3vinw »

xyst wrote: post #204

[flagged]

Hyperbole much? I for one am happy that these Americans who were politically targeted and serving 4 years of prison time especially for the violent crime of trespassing have been giving their lives back.

The message is clear: don’t weaponize the American justice system against its own citizens.

And Biden just commuted the sentences of mass murderers and child killers. What kind of message does that send?

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