In a court order released today, June 28, Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, was denied by the United States Supreme Court for a review of his life sentence.

Ross Ublricht, known on the internet as the “Dread Pirate Roberts”, founded the darkweb black market website, Silk Road, in 2011. Silk Road was one of the first markets of its kind to exist on the darkweb, and is widely considered by many to have acted as of one of the earliest adopters of cryptocurrency for use in commercial transactions.

Ulbricht was arrested by US authorities in 2013 and was later convicted of money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics in February, 2015.

He was given a life sentence without possibility of parole. This sentence was upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2017.

Today’s news from the Supreme Court was met with much frustration by anti-war on drugs activists and free market advocates on Twitter. Numerous followers of the @Free_Ross twitter handle commented on the perceived injustice of Ross’ continued sentence. Privacy and Human Rights advocate, Will Steward writes”

“Justice is dead, and our governments have resorted to violating all of our rights in their ‘war on drugs’… while all scientific evidence says their approach is completely backwards and failing. I hope that for Ross and others that they’ll never have to serve their full sentences, as future governments change the failed approach to the war on drugs… Time will tell.”

Last Year, the U.S. Justice Department claimed the proceeds of 144,336 Bitcoin (BTC) seized when Silk Road was shut down following Ross’ arrest in 2013. This amount of Bitcoin would now be valued at nearly a billion dollars today.

The post US Supreme Court Denies Review of Silk Road Founder’s Life Sentence appeared first on UNHASHED.

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