Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind the creation of the Silk Road website, was convicted of drug conspiracy and other charges for running the website that facilitated drug transactions through the use of bitcoin payments and anonymity of its users. The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of 20 years and the range goes up to life in prison.

The history of Silk Road began in 2009 when Mr. Ulbricht rented a home in Austin and raised hallucinogenic mushrooms. In order to sell the mushrooms, Mr. Ulbricht launched Silk Road in 2011 , a site that created anonymity by using a computer routing system (Tor) that sent messages through Iceland and other countries as a way of thwarting detection of identity. Users had to pay through bitcoin, an electronic currency that also precluded identification of users through traditional Internet payment methods. Silk Road took a commission on all transactions, and, at the time of the prosecution of Mr. Ulbricht, had amassed \(\$ 18\) million from the site from \(\$ 182\) million in drug sales that involved 1.5 million transactions and 100,000 accounts.

Mr. Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 in a San Francisco Public Library where he was using his laptop. Undercover agents created a noise distraction that allowed them to seize Mr. Ulbricht's laptop before he could log off. As a result, the FBI agents had full and complete access to the site and Mr. Ulbricht's activities. Bail was denied because Mr. Ulbricht was on the run as he was seeking citizenship on a Caribbean Island, a place that would not have permitted extradition for prosecution in the United States. Prosecutors at the bail hearing indicated that at the time of his arrest Mr. Ulbricht had nine fake IDs and lots of cash for travel. The bail was denied despite 63 letters that addressed Mr. Ulbricht's good character. \({ }^{123}\) The letters referenced his establishment of "Good Wagon Books," a company that sold used books and donated those that did not sell to prison libraries.

The trial was fascinating in its twists and turns. Mr. Ulbricht had maintained that he was not the founder and operator of the site nor was he Dread Pirate Roberts. Dread Pirate Roberts had arranged for a Hells Angels motorcycle club to execute site users who had threatened blackmail about the site's activities and his identity. His lawyers maintained that the site was taken over by others and was launched only as an economics experiment. The lawyers argued that he was brought back to run the site when those who had taken over realized that the government had infiltrated the site. Evidence related to this defense was not admitted and will be the grounds for Mr. Ulbricht's appeal, which was filed in January 2016. The evidence was so overwhelming that the jury deliberated only about three hours before they convicted him. A federal judge sentenced Mr. Ulbricht to life in prison. The minimum was 20 years for the crimes he committed, but the judge noted that what Mr. Ulbricht did "in connection with Silk Road was terribly destructive to our social fabric...................

 Discussion Questions
1. Mr. Ulbricht was not actually selling drugs via the Internet. He only facilitated sales. Is there an ethical issue in doing so? Banks handle cash that is then used for illegal transactions. Isn't this the same thing?
2. What would happen if websites could be used to facilitate illegal activity? Could your bank facilitate illegal activity with its online banking services? Is that the same as what happened with bitcoin?