Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Loses Appeal In Trial Connected To Dark Web

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the darknet marketplace for drugs and illegal goods, lost his appeal of the life sentence imposed for his role in creating and running the now-defunct dark web site Silk Road

Ulbricht argued he was deprived of his constitutional right to a fair trial and was given a “demonstrably unreasonable” punishment when he was tried. His appeal was rejected Wednesday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

Read: FBI Paid $1 Million To Break Tor Anonymity As Part Of Silk Road 2 Investigation, Tor Says

In a 139-page ruling on the case, the judges on the appeals court said they found no legal grounds that would justify reversing Ulbricht’s 2015 sentence for founding and operating the Silk Road, an eBay-style marketplace for illegal products.

According to Appellate Judge Gerard Lynch, who wrote the court’s opinion, the original trial “gave Ulbricht's sentence the thorough consideration that it required, reviewing the voluminous sentencing submissions, analyzing the factors required by law, and carefully weighing Ulbricht's mitigating legal arguments."

The three judges who made up the appeals panel agreed to affirm the result of the trial and the punishment given to Ulbricht. "Under the law, we cannot say that its decision was substantively unreasonable," Lynch wrote.

Ulbricht was originally tried by a federal jury of six men and six women in New York in February 2015. He was indicted on charges of money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics and attempting to have six people killed.

The jury convicted Ulbricht, and he was given five sentences to be served concurrently, including two for life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Read: Silk Road's Ulbricht Paid Rogue DEA Agent $100K For Investigation Details, Indictment Alleges

Lead defense attorney Joshua Dratel argued Judge Katherine Forrest, who presided over the trial, made a number of legal errors, including denying a motion to suppress evidence of internet traffic to Ulbricht’s router that was obtained without a warrant.

Dratel also said the defense was blocked from showing evidence a former government agent involved in investigating the Silk Road was himself investigated for stealing bitcoins from the site.

The Silk Road ran from February 2011 until October 2013 when it was shut down by the FBI. Created to facilitate the sale of drugs without government oversight or interference, the site allowed for the sale and purchase of illegal drugs and other services.

Transactions on the site were completed using bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that is difficult to track and has low overhead for transaction processing. It is believed more than 1.3 million transactions were completed on the Silk Road during its original existence and generated more than $1.2 billion in sales.

The site was created by a person going by the moniker of the Dread Pirate Roberts, a name taken from the novel and movie The Princess Bride. Government evidence suggested it was Ulbricht who used the name online, though it has been suggested more than one person acted as Dread Pirate Roberts.