The Silk Road leads to prison (1 Viewer)

[El Caliente]

I am surprised that this hasn't been brought up yet here on the board. Over the last few years bitcoins have been a point of conversation for many, and the Silk Road has been the main consumer of that currency. Now you have Ross Ulbricht up for a life Sentance on account for his part in the deaths of few people. Put aside the fact that it will be harder to come across shady items, what's your take on the issue? I think it's good riddance to bad rubbish.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/29/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-sentenced

 

[kcirdor]

He was not convicted on putting a hit on anyone.

He was convicted on 7 charges. None of which include a Hit. The biggest charge seems to be the Kingpin charge. Most of his charges were drug trafficking related.

Count One: Distributing OR aiding and abetting the distribution of narcotics. Aiding and abetting means knowingly assisting in the commission of a crime, even if he didn’t actually commit the crime. Distribution requires a concrete involvement in the transfer of drugs.
Count Two: The distribution of controlled substances intentionally accomplished by means of the Internet.
Count Three: Conspiracy with others to violate narcotics laws. A conspiracy exists if two or more persons, in any manner (whether they verbally agree or not) “come to a common understanding to violate the law.”
Count Four: Engagement in a continuing criminal enterprise (kingpin charge). This requires that the defendant committed a series of federal narcotics offenses with five or more people whom he organized supervised, managed and from whom he received substantial profit. This charge contradicts Count One, as you can’t be an organizer AND just an aider or abettor. In addition the government failed to identify five people who were organized.
Count Five: Conspiring with others to commit OR aid and abet computer hacking. No hacking was proven and no one came forward to say their computer was hacked from software sold on Silk Road.
Count Six: Conspiring with others to traffic in fraudulent identification documents.
Count Seven: Conspiring to commit money laundering.

http://freeross.org/the-case-the-goal-and-why-this-matters-2/

The Corruption
Approximately two months after Ross was convicted, it was revealed that two federal agents at DHS Baltimore had been under investigation for nine months, for allegedly stealing and extorting funds from Silk Road, among other crimes. One of these men, DEA agent Carl Mark Force, was the lead undercover agent in the case, at the core of the investigation. He and Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges have now been indicted for a massive corruption scheme.

These agents had high-level access to administrative functions of the Silk Road, which they gained from an arrested informant. They had the power to change aspects of the site; access to administrator platforms and passwords; the ability to change PIN numbers and commandeer accounts.

They also had the means to manipulate logs, chats, private messages, keys, posts, account information and bank accounts. And they had the motive to alter data in order to cover up their own actions and point guilt elsewhere. The defense only learned some of this information five weeks before trial and was blocked from referring to it at trial, as it was under seal pending completion of the investigation.

The defense requested that trial be postponed until the investigation concluded so that the entire story could be presented to the jury, but this was denied.

We believe this alleged corruption casts doubt on a large amount of evidence gathered by the government and raises questions about all aspects of the investigation. Yet it was kept under seal during the trial, depriving the jury of essential facts, and Ulbricht of due process and fair trial.

In addition, the agent Carl Mark Force played the single biggest role in the most damning charges leveled against Ulbricht: allegedly organizing a murder (which never occurred). This was not a charge at trial but is charged in an indictment in Maryland and was discussed in the New York trial despite being uncharged and unproven.

 

[kcirdor]

It is purely the justice system trying to make an example of Ross. He should not have a life sentence. He likely is guilty of some drug charges, but not likely guilty of all charges against him. He should serve time, but not life.

 

[zeetes]

the murder for hire charges were dropped shortly after his arrest and have long been speculated to be bogus because of all the holes in the details. i'm pretty sure his greed did him in because there is a long list of people he ****** off before he was raided. he was notorious for not releasing bitcoins to merchants and randomly raising prices to do business. also, his security methods for storing the site contents and user information were amateur, to put it nicely.

i loved the concept and idea behind it. very well executed, but not without flaws. what i disagree with is the decision he made to allow fake IDs, stolen credit cards, and whatever else to be sold too. strictly drugs, it was a much safer alternative than the hoping to not get beaten to death. there wasn't even the worry about being e-robbed since the buyer controlled when to release the funds.

 

[DomePatrol2005]

the good markets currently are AlphaBay Market and Agora Market they can be easily googled and found on reddit

 

[Tacoes]

I heard about the deep web and silk road for the first time last week, sounds like a scary place.

 

[Zztop]

guess who got a get out of jail pardon

 

[El Caliente]

guess who got a get out of jail pardon

Word?

 

[Zztop]

Word?

Him along with roughly 1,500 others just got a pardon

 

[Zardnok]

Silk Road... There is a name I haven't thought of in years! I miss the good old days when you could mine up a bitcoin with your graphics card over-night and swap it for an Oz of weed mailed straight to your door.

 

[Madmarsha]

Him along with roughly 1,500 others just got a pardon

@tenordas , you're down with this, right?

 

[tenordas]

@tenordas , you're down with this, right?

What are we talking about?

 

[Madmarsha]

What are we talking about?

I believe you've stated you're a Libertarian, right? The pardon of Ross Ulbricht is very favorable with Libertarians. Just curious if you concurred since we actually have a thread on the Silk Road which I had never heard of.

 

[tenordas]

I believe you've stated you're a Libertarian, right? The pardon of Ross Ulbricht is very favorable with Libertarians. Just curious if you concurred since we actually have a thread on the Silk Road which I had never heard of.

I'm out of the loop on this subject. I don't think I ever heard of the Silk Road until the news about his pardon. I do know a lot of people felt his sentence was excessive, and that he was convicted of dealing drugs on a major scale, but to be honest I don't know particulars about what he did.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I'm out of the loop on this subject. I don't think I ever heard of the Silk Road until the news about his pardon. I do know a lot of people felt his sentence was excessive, and that he was convicted of dealing drugs on a major scale, but to be honest I don't know particulars about what he did.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that he tried to hire people to kill witnesses against him during his sentencing - so he was given a life sentence.