Trump pardons Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht

Donald Trump pardons founder of Silk Road drugs site

Ross Ulbricht is the founder of Silk Road, an infamous dark web marketplace that facilitated the anonymous sale of illegal goods and services, including drugs, hacking tools and counterfeit documents like passports.

In early 2015 Ulbricht was sentenced to two life terms in prison plus 40 years for drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit money laundering and computer hacking, operating under the pseudonym 'Dread Pirate Roberts.'

The Republican president made good on a campaign pledge to free Ulbricht, 40, who was arrested in 2013 and sentenced in 2015 in what became a landmark US prosecution launched only a few years after the emergence of the popular cryptocurrency.