Ross Ulbricht
Ross William Ulbricht (born March 27, 1984) is an American serving life imprisonment for creating and operating the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. The site operated as a hidden service on the Tor network and facilitated the sale of narcotics and other illegal products and services. Ulbricht ran the site under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts", after the fictional character from The Princess Bride.
Ross Ulbricht | |
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Ulbricht's 2012 passport photo | |
| Born | Ross William Ulbricht March 27, 1984 Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Other names | Silk Road Admin, SR Admin, Dread Pirate Roberts, DPR, Frosty, Altoid |
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Dallas (BS) Pennsylvania State University (MS) |
| Occupation | Darknet market operator |
| Years active | February 2011 – October 2013 |
| Known for | Creator of Silk Road |
| Conviction(s) |
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| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus $183,961,921 fine (May 29, 2015) |
Date apprehended | October 1, 2013 |
| Imprisoned at | United States Penitentiary, Tucson |
| Website | freeross |
In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Ulbricht and Silk Road was taken offline. In 2015, he was convicted of 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 sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht's appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2017 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 were unsuccessful. He is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson.