The Convicts

Ross Ulbricht
Evan Gershkovich

ROSS ULBRICHT

Ross Ulbricht is serving two life sentences plus 40 years without parole.

President Trump promised to set him free.

Ulbricht aka Dread Pirate Roberts was the creator of the infamous dark web site Silk Road. Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 and convicted in 2015 for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking. He was not charged or convicted for murder, but evidence of murder-for-hire allegations were supported with chat logs and Bitcoin transactions at trial.

Silk Road operated as a hidden service that accepted Bitcoin payments on the Tor network which allowed users to supposedly set-up anonymous accounts and conceal their locations. The business generated nearly $213.9 million in sales and $13.2 million in commissions until it was shut down. Silk Road was operational from at least January 2011 until October 2013.

Andy Greenberg, a former staff writer at Forbes and currently a senior writer at Wired, is a journalist who has covered Ulbricht extensively. After eight months of persistence, Greenberg was granted an interview with Ulbricht in July 2013, three months before Ulbricht's arrest. Greenberg asserts that he covered every minute of Ulbricht's trial, gavel to gavel.

"Dread Pirate Roberts was a political figure. He saw the Silk Road as a political experiment," explained Greenberg on the Julian Dorey Daily podcast.

"I feel bad saying critical things about him, but you have to tell the story properly.” Adding Greenberg says, "I think eventually he was not just doing stuff out of libertarian and idealistic motivation. He had become sort of enamored of the power and the millions of dollars flowing through and around his invention and did some nasty things to protect that."

Ulbricht's libertarian beliefs were well documented and sourced from his online forums associated with Silk Road by Greenberg. In Forbes he writes:

"Ulbricht posted long manifestos, love letters to Silk Road users, and even hosted a Book Club that discussed agorism, counter-economics, anarcho-capitalism, Austrian economics, political philosophy and freedom issues."

During the podcast Greenberg shared key points. He mentions that during the trial the prosecution made it clear that Bitcoin was not anonymous untraceable money (since Bitcoin tracing was evidence used against Ulbricht.) Secondly, he explained that the prosecution showed that they could trace the Bitcoin from Silk Road's server to Ulbricht's laptop on the public blockchain ledger, which showed Ulbricht paying—who he thought was a hitman—to kill an employee who had stolen his Bitcoin.

However, Greenberg disagrees with the judge's verdict of two life sentences in maximum security prison with no parole stating, "I knew immediately this was wrong." Adding: " I believe he tried to kill people. I don't believe he deserves to be in a cage for the rest of his life."

There's been an overwhelming cultural sentiment that Ulbricht's sentence doesn't fit his crime. It’s even been suggested that he's a victim of cruel and unusual punishment by US Representative Thomas Massie.

The outpouring of advocacy has been showcased on the Free Ross website, showing that over 600,000 have signed his clemency petition and over 250 organizations, individuals and leaders have voiced their support.

Kenneth Starr, former Solicitor General and U.S. Senator Rand Paul are publicized supporters, and during his Presidential campaign trail, RFK Jr. promised to pardon Ulbricht if he was elected.

For years now, Ulbricht has dictated tweets, now X posts, from prison. He has over 216.6K followers and he is following 0. His wife ran a donor-advised fund (DAO) on Ulbricht's behalf and raised over $785,000 dollars by selling Ulbricht's art.

Hopeful that President Trump keeps his promise, Ulbricht recently posted on X: “Outlive by Dr. Attia has inspired me to be as healthy as possible so I can live a long life and make up for the years I’ve lost.”

EVAN GERSHKOVICH

Gershkovich was the first American news journalist to be arrested and convicted as a spy since the Cold War.

He was set free on August 1st.

The WSJ foreign correspondent who was stationed in Moscow, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years. According to the official statement released by The Federal Security Service (FSB): "It was established that E. Gershkovich, acting on instructions from the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. While attempting to obtain classified information, the foreigner was detained in Yekaterinburg."

Further reporting specifies that the "enterprise" was Uralvagonzavod, one of the largest battle tank manufacturers in the world. The trial happened behind closed doors.

During the 16 months of his detainment, Gershkovich benefited from a massive campaign effort to secure his release. The House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution calling for the release of American prisoners in Russia. Numerous statements were issued that included National Association of Broadcasters, Media Freedom Coalition, Columbia Journalism School, Bowdoin College, Princeton Public Schools, The Jewish Federations of North America, U.S. Department of State and The White House.

According to WSJ, the effort to bring home Gershkovich "unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies, billionaires, political power players and his fiercest advocate—his mother."

The Atlantic Council specifically reported that those involved in securing Gershkovich's release were: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob; Almar Latour, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and CEO of Dow Jones; Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker; Dow Jones general counsel Jason Conti; private lawyers at WilmerHale engaged by Dow Jones; US President Joe Biden; National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan; Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens; and Evan’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, among others.

Gershkovich was released from Turkey as part of a massive prisoner exchange, called "The 2024 Ankara Prisoner Exchange," that involved 26 people. In total, three (3) American citizens were released from Russia prison: Gershkovich; former marine Paul Whelan, who had been held captive since 2018; and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an U.S. government-funded media group supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

When Gershkovich was freed,WSJ published a full page spread: "Welcome Home, Evan. Freedom does not exist without a free press."

The other individuals reported in the prisoner swamp, plus two minors, were: Vladimir Kara-Murza, Liliya Chanysheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Rico Krieger, Kevin Lick, Herman Moyzhes, Oleg Orlov, Vadim Ostanin, Vadim Konoshchenok, Vadim Krasikov, Vladislav Klyushin, Andrei Pivovarov, Patrick Schoebel, Sasha Skochilenko, Dieter Voronin, Ilya Yashin. Roman Seleznev, Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin, Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov, Anna Valerevna Dultseva aka Maria Rosa Mayer Munos, Artem Viktorovich Dultsev aka Ludwig Gish.

SOURCES: Ross Ulbricht

https://x.com/RealRossU/status/1869476508882100381

https://x.com/RealRossU

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/jury-convicts-owner-operator-silk-road-website

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-life-federal-prison-creating#:~:text=Ulbricht%2C%2031%2C%20of%20San%20Francisco,conspiring%20to%20commit%20computer%20hacking%2C

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/29/collected-quotations-of-the-dread-pirate-roberts-founder-of-the-drug-site-silk-road-and-radical-libertarian/

https://www.wired.com/story/silk-road-creator-ross-ulbricht-is-waiting-for-trump-to-keep-his-word-and-set-him-free/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_AlyW2JWs

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-bitcoin-trial-idUSKBN0L82H920150205/

https://www.c-span.org/program/campaign-2024/former-president-trump-speaks-at-libertarian-party-convention/642402

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht

https://x.com/RealRossU/status/1555204243342196737