Ross Ulbricht, creator of Silk Road website, sentenced to life in prison

By NewsGram Staff Writer

Ross Ulbricht, the convicted mastermind behind the infamous Silk Road website, has been sentenced to life in prison by a Manhattan judge.

Silk Road was an online black market where users could anonymously buy drugs, weapons and other illegal goods.

In addition to his prison sentence, Ulbricht has been ordered to pay a massive restitution of more than $183 million.

"The stated purpose [of the Silk Road] was to be beyond the law. In the world you created over time, democracy didn't exist. You were captain of the ship, the Dread Pirate Roberts," Judge Katherine Forrest told Ulbricht as reported by Wired.

"Silk Road's birth and presence asserted that its…creator was better than the laws of this country. This is deeply troubling, terribly misguided, and very dangerous."

The defence claimed that Ulbricht started Silk Road as an economic experiment, but handed it off to others after a few months. However he was lured back to the site to be set up as a fall guy when prosecutors were closing in.

Vice News reported that Ulbricht's family is planning to appeal the sentencing.