Ross Ulbricht is the founder of the infamous Silk Road dark web marketplace, who recently got pardoned by President Donald Trump, find out more about him and his net worth below
Ulbricht was previously convicted and sentenced to life in prison back in 2015 following a narcotics and money-laundering conspiracy.
Who is Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road granted pardon by Donald Trump, bio, age, family, parents, wife, education, religion and net worth
BREAKING: Here's the first image of Ross Ulbricht leaving prison as a free man 🧡 pic.twitter.com/j2vYeypmDs
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 22, 2025
Ross Ulbricht has been freed by President Trump with a full pardon! Thank you for keeping your word to me and others who have been advocating for Ross’ freedom, Mr. President! #freeRoss pic.twitter.com/wOJVFX1DaA
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 22, 2025
Trump’s decision to pardon Ulbricht comes following years of advocacy from supporters, including libertarian groups and politicians.
In 2013, 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht was arrested by the FBI for running a website called Silk Road and on the site, people from around the world could buy and sell illicit drugs, weapons, poisons, and services such as computer hacking. In Silk Road forums, users could even discuss murders-for-hire and in the three years of its existence, Silk Road racked up more than $200 million in total sales revenue, with Ulbricht taking a cut on each sale.
When Ulbricht created the website, he was dating Julia Vie and they met when she was a freshman at Penn State and he was a graduate student there in materials science and engineering. He is currently single and unmarried.
Vie opened a photography studio called Vivian’s Muse, while Ulbricht started the Silk Road website. Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 for operating the online black market and sentenced to life imprisonment after he was convicted of numerous charges for his role in the operations of Silk Road. In May 2015, he was sentenced to a double life sentence plus forty years without the possibility of parole.
Ross Ulbricht bio
Ross William Ulbricht is an American citizen who was born on March 27, 1984, in Austin, Texas. He is notably the founder of the infamous Silk Road dark web marketplace, where various crimes took place. Ross was raised in a middle-class family and was notably a deep thinker who was passionate about individual freedom.
Ross is currently 40 years old and belongs to a close-knit Christian family. He was born to parents Lyn and Kirk Ulbricht, who both advocated for his release over the years. Most importantly, his mother Lyn has been a passionate supporter of her son throughout all the legal battles. His father, Kirk lives in Matapalo, Costa Rica.
Education
Ulbricht attended the University of Texas at Dallas and graduated with a degree in physics. He later attended Penn State University, where he obtained his master’s degree in materials science and then moved back to Austin.
Career
Ross Ulbricht made use of his academic background in science and technology to create the Silk Road, an online marketplace. Ulbricht designed the Silk Road to facilitate the anonymous exchange of goods and services, mainly the sale of illegal ones. Ross created the dark web marketplace in 2011, where users could buy and sell illegal goods, drugs, counterfeit documents, and weapons.
Ross set up the site to operate anonymously using the Tor network and Bitcoin as its primary currency. As a result of its anonymity, the Silk Road thrived in a legal grey area, catering to a global community of users. While the Silk Road gained popularity, it also became the main target for law enforcement agencies worldwide.
Aside from creating the Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht handled the day-to-day operations of the site. As a result, he was accused of taking part in the site’s illegal activities and was eventually arrested by the FBI in October 2013. The FBI arrested him in a public library in San Francisco with the help of the DEA and Secret Service.
Following the arrest, Ulbricht was convicted on all charges and sentenced to life in prison in 2015 without the chance of parole. The court upheld his sentence despite appeals from family members, friends, and supporters. However, after almost 10 years, newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump has proceeded to grant a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht.
Bitcoin portfolio
According to reports, Ross Ulbricht owned over 144,000 bitcoins during the time of his arrest. However, the FBI seized all these coins during their investigation, and the US government auctioned off all of them in multiple rounds. Bitcoins are currently priced at over $40,000 per coin, meaning that Ulbricht would have over $5.7 billion if he still had those 144,000 bitcoins.
The darknet Ulbricht maintained accumulated more than $13 million of Bitcoin and the FBI confiscated 144,336 Bitcoins from Ulbricht’s laptop, which were then sold in a couple of auctions, generating a value of $48.2 million with the site doing a total of $200 million in revenue out of which Ross kept a percentage.