Ross William Ulbricht
Also known as: Dread Pirate Roberts, DPR
Arrested, Charged, Convicted, Sentenced, Released
Public record reviewed to August 20, 2026
Index entry last updated August 21, 2026
Founder and sole controlling administrator of Silk Road.
A conviction or guilty plea is recorded in this entry.
- Founder and operator of Silk Road.
- Pardoned by President Trump on 2025-01-21.
Everything on this page comes from cited public sources.
This entry records 5 actions across 1 takedown, each traced to a cited source. Every linked takedown sits in the verified core of this index. Where the record is silent, this page says so rather than filling the gap.
Legal summary
- Associated takedowns
- Silk Road seizure
- Recorded role
- Founder and sole controlling administrator of Silk Road
- Group segment
- Core operator
- Charging authority
- United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
- Charging jurisdiction
- United States
- Case number
- Not published
- Latest recorded action
- Released, January 2025
- Nationality
- United States
- Country of residence
- United States
- Recorded sentence
- Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus 40 years
Legal history
Every step recorded in the public legal record for this person, in the order it happened.
These entries describe procedure only. Nothing here establishes guilt, and a charge remains an allegation until a court rules.
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October 1, 2013
Arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Francisco, CA, United States. Arrested in a San Francisco public library at the moment he was logged into the marketplace administration interface.
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October 2, 2013
Charged by United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in NY, United States. Charged by complaint and subsequently indicted in SDNY.
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February 4, 2015
Convicted by United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in NY, United States. Convicted on all counts at trial.
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May 29, 2015
Sentenced by United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in NY, United States. Sentencing is recorded as a separate event from conviction.
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January 21, 2025
Released in the United States. Released following a full and unconditional presidential pardon.