#Torchat law enforcement trial#

Ultimately, the New York office identified Ulbricht as DPR, but the Maryland office had investigated and later abandoned the theory that either Athavale or Karpeles might have been Dread Pirate Roberts. Those individuals included Ulbricht, Anand Athavale, and Mark Karpeles. In 20, agents from both offices investigated several individuals who the government suspected were operating Silk Road as DPR. Throughout the investigations, law enforcement agents knew that the person using Dread Pirate Roberts as his or her Silk Road username had created and managed the site, but they did not know DPR's actual identity. In October 2013, the government arrested Ulbricht, seized the Silk Road servers, and shut down the site.Īfter Ulbricht created Silk Road in 2011, the site attracted the interest of at least two separate divisions of the Department of Justice: 4 the United States Attorney's Offices for the District of Maryland and for the Southern District of New York. Ulbricht, acting as DPR, earned millions of dollars in profits from the commissions collected by Silk Road on purchases. Silk Road customers and vendors could also access a support section of the website to seek help from the marketplace's administrators when an issue arose.Īccording to the government, between 20, thousands of vendors used Silk Road to sell approximately $183 million worth of illegal drugs, as well as other goods and services. 3 The site also contained a private message system, which allowed users to send messages to each other (similar to communicating via email), a public forum to discuss topics related to Silk Road, and a “wiki,” which is like an encyclopedia that users could access to receive advice about using the site. Transactions on Silk Road exclusively used Bitcoins, an anonymous but traceable digital currency. 2 Silk Road users principally bought and sold drugs, false identification documents, and computer hacking software. 1 Silk Road was a massive, anonymous criminal marketplace that operated using the Tor Network, which renders Internet traffic through the Tor browser extremely difficult to trace. In February 2015, a jury convicted Ross William Ulbricht on seven counts arising from his creation and operation of Silk Road under the username Dread Pirate Roberts (“DPR”). Because we identify no reversible error, we AFFIRM Ulbricht's conviction and sentence in all respects.

#Torchat law enforcement trial#

He challenges several aspects of his conviction and sentence, arguing that (1) the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence assertedly obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment (2) the district court committed numerous errors that deprived him of his right to a fair trial, and incorrectly denied his motion for a new trial and (3) his life sentence is both procedurally and substantively unreasonable. A jury convicted Ulbricht of drug trafficking and other crimes associated with his creation and operation of Silk Road, an online marketplace whose users primarily purchased and sold illegal goods and services. Morrison, University of North Dakota School of Law, Grand Forks, ND, for amicus curiae National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.ĭefendant Ross William Ulbricht appeals from a judgment of conviction and sentence to life imprisonment entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Katherine B. Tamar Todd, Jolene Forman, Drug Policy Alliance, Oakland, CA, for amici curiae Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, JustLeadershipUSA, and Nancy Gertner. Hickey, Assistant United States Attorneys, on the brief), for Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY. EUN YOUNG CHOI, Assistant United States Attorney (Michael D. Dratel, P.C., New York, NY, for defendant-appellant Ross William Ulbricht.

15-1815 Decided: May 31, 2017īefore: NEWMAN, LYNCH, and DRONEY, Circuit Judges. ROSS WILLIAM ULBRICHT, a/k/a DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS, a/k/a SILK ROAD, a/k/a SEALED DEFENDANT 1, a/k/a DPR, Defendant-Appellant. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.