News Digest

Accused Silk Road drug baron goes on trial in New York

The trial of 30-year-old Ross Ulbricht, a skinny Eagle Scout from San Francisco, has been heralded a landmark case in the shadowy world of online crime, as well as surveillance and privacy. Prosecutors say Ulbricht created, owned and operated the Silk Road website that allowed thousands of criminals in Europe and North America to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for three years. From January 2011 until October 2013, when the website was shut down by the FBI, prosecutors say Ulbricht was the true identity of “Dread Pirate Roberts”—the anti-hero in fairy tale film “The Princess Bride”—who set up, owned and operated the underworld site.

It’s not just about one man and one family, but it’s something that will impact law going into the 21st century.

Lyn Ulbricht, his mother, told a libertarian gathering in June

He was arrested in a San Francisco library working on a laptop in October 2013 and charged with narcotics trafficking, criminal enterprise, computer hacking and money laundering. Ulbricht has pleaded not guilty on seven separate charges. He faces life behind bars if convicted, and has hired prominent lawyer Joshua Dratel, who has defended convicted terrorists. Silk Road allegedly offered listings for drugs, including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD as well as malicious software and pirated content. It also offered fake driver’s licenses, passports, social security cards, utility bills and car insurance records.