Ross Ulbricht, the founder of digital black market Silk Road, was found guilty on Wednesday of running the $1.2 billion network that facilitated the trafficking of drugs and other illegal items.
The 30-year-old Ulbricht, who operated under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts, claimed he was a fall guy who did not launch the site but rather operated it for only a few months. However, a jury rejected that claim and convicted him on all seven charges.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - January 18, 2025Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - Bondi on the Bible, climate change, and more
-
5 Senate-approved cartoons on the Trump confirmation hearingsCartoons Artists take on non-answers, drunken rhetoric, and more
-
The best new cars for 2025The Week Recommends From family SUVs to luxury all-electrics these are the most hotly anticipated vehicles
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
Swearing in the UK: a colourful historyIn The Spotlight Thanet council's bad language ban is the latest chapter in a saga of obscenity
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
