15 Ross Ulbricht

by Spike Cohen,  
 · 
This is Ross Ulbricht. If you've heard his story, you're probably getting upset just thinking about it.

For those who don't know, Ross is serving a double life sentence plus 40 years, for creating a website.

If that sounds ridiculous and infuriating to you, keep reading. It gets worse.

Ross created a website called Silk Road, which he designed to be a free market, secure, anonymous marketplace. It used Bicoin for payment, and utilized a system called Tor which allowed buyers and sellers to access it anonymously and without any trace.

An avid libertarian, Ross prohibited anything being sold on Silk Road that violated the Non-Aggression Principle. This included stolen items, counterfeit/fraudulent items, child pornography, assassinations, etc. A devout believer in nonviolence, Ross also prohibited the sale of weapons.

Many items that were sold on Silk Road were legal, and a third-party study of the site inventory by Carnegie-Mellon University concluded that the drugs most commonly sold were user amounts of cannabis.

Most importantly, Ross was not convicted for selling, buying, or being in proximity to any of the items that were sold on Silk Road, legal or illegal. Rather he was convicted for what others did on the site.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance and several academic studies, the ability to purchase drugs on Silk Road was "a peaceable alternative to the often deadly violence so commonly associated with the global drug war, and street drug transactions, in particular." In other words, it is much safer to buy drugs from the comfort of your home than from drug dealers on the streets.

On October of 2013, Ross was arrested by the FBI and charged with money laundering conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy, fake ID trafficking conspiracy and narcotics trafficking. (Ross did not actually launder money, hack computers or sell illegal items himself. These charges were based on what users listed on the site.)

After his arrest, the prosecution alleged that Ross attempted to have several people killed, but never charged him for this at trial. All his trial charges were nonviolent.

An unprosecuted indictment in Maryland, including the only allegation of murder-for-hire ever filed, was dismissed with prejudice by the prosecutors. The only alleged victim ever identified, Curtis Green, has publicly stated he believes those allegations were false, and he is a fervent supporter of Ross.

Despite the fact that these false, unproven allegations were never prosecuted, the federal government used them in the media to paint Ross as some kind of violent criminal kingpin, despite the fact that he was nonviolent and lived a very meager life, living with 3 other roommates in an apartment.

The FBI also seized over 144,000 Bitcoin that they found in a shared wallet on Ross's computer, which today is worth over $1.6 billion.

During Ross's trial:

* The prosecution was never expected to prove Ross authored any of the online anonymous chats and text files the murder-for-hire accusations solely relied on. Evidence and testimony showing that multiple people ran the website was banned from being discussed at trial.

* Ross's defense team was not allowed to cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses or present their own witnesses

* Key exonerating evidence was blocked by the judge

* The prosecution was permitted to allege to the jury that Ross had hired hits on people despite never charging him with this or allowing him the opportunity to defend himself, a constitutional right.

The jury found Ross guilty on all charges, and the judge sentenced this first-time, nonviolent offender to double life plus forty years without parole.

After Ross's trial, two of the key investigating federal agents were convicted on corruption charges related to Ross's case. Their existence was hidden from the jury during trial.

Despite all of this, Ross’s conviction was lost on appeal, and the Supreme Court refused to hear his case.
There is no other way to say it: Ross was railroaded by a corrupt federal government that wanted to make an example of him and steal his Bitcoins.

During his 7 years in prison, Ross has continued to be a model citizen, teaching classes and tutoring his fellow inmates and helping them to earn their GEDs. He has also completed several educational programs himself and has never received a single disciplinary sanction.

Ross Ulbricht is a peaceful, nonviolent man who has never harmed anyone and whose only "crime" was to create a website that some used to sell drugs that shouldn't be illegal in the first place.

Ross needs to be set free NOW. Vermin Supreme and I are calling for President Trump to have his prison time commuted to time served and for him to be let go, and we call on all other Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to join us in calling for this.

If elected, Vermin and I will give Ross and all other victims of the War on Drugs a full pardon, and we call on all other Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to make the same pledge.

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Spike Cohen is a testament to the immorality of child labor laws. Born to humble refugees from Baltimore, Spike started working in restaurants and landscaping at a very young age. It is here that he learned he didn't ever want to work for someone else, which is why he started his web design company in 1999. Diagnosed with MS in 2016, Spike sold his company the following year and is now devoting his life to his 3 great loves: his wife, the liberty movement and napping. Spike uses his show (((My Fellow Americans))), as well as his co-hosting of The Muddied Waters of Freedom, to spread the message of anarchy to an audience of people who yearn to be free.When he's not doing that, Spike is either salsa dancing, spoiling his wife and dog, or napping.