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nadermx | on: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon
What has always sat odd with me regarding this, is we don't truly know the extent of the fbi's corruption in this. They stole, so it's not hard to imagine they planted evidence too.
potato3732842 | parent | next
I assume that the feds corruption is as bad as it is in every other high profile case case involving fed informants and politically charged topics. Randy Weaver, all the muslims they radicalized and then goaded into doing terrorist things post 9/11, the Michigan Fednapping. It seems like every time these people have a chance to entrap someone they do, but they do it in a "haha, jokes on you we run the system so while this probably would be entrapment if some beat cops did it the court won't find it that way" sort of way. They just can't touch anything without getting it dirty this way and the fact that that is a 30yr pattern at this point depending on how you count speaks volumes IMO. While I'm sure they can solve an interstate murder or interstate fraud or whatever just fine I just don't trust them to handle these sorts of cases.

It seems like all of these people they wind up charging probably are questionable people who wanted to do the thing and probably did some other lesser things but they probably would have given up on the big thing if there wasn't a federal agency running around doing all the "the informant says the guy is lamenting not having explosives, quick someone get him some explosives" things in the background.

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lettergram | parent | next
As part of the FBI conviction they were accused of tampering user logs and taking over accounts. So… literally none of it can be used as evidence imo.
mplewis | parent | next
What evidence would you have even needed to plant? He ran the largest internet drug market and openly tried to assassinate a competitor.
TheAmazingRace | root | parent | next
Agreed. He willingly engaged with the alleged hitman (which ended up being the FBI contact). He didn't need to do anything or not have the thought to murder others cross his mind.
andirk | root | parent
Allegedly. The 2 rules of his Fight Club were no underage sex stuff and no physical harm. That hitman claim was not part of his charges or sentencing. The heavy sentencing was to like "send a message" the judge said.
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plsbenice34 | root | parent | next
Many people, including myself, do not believe that he really did any of the activity related to the assassination attempts. Demonstrably corrupt law enforcement agents had the opportunity to do it all themselves and it would be typical behaviour for those agencies. He is (and was) politically passionate about non-violence and it would go against everything he stood for. I cannot believe he would do it. What do you mean "openly"?
mikeyouse | root | parent
He wrote about them extensively in his journals - journals he could have disclaimed if they were faked but were obviously not.
plsbenice34 | root | parent
I can't say anything about these journals because I cant even remember anything about them. It certainly isn't obvious to me, since the case is incredibly complex and objectively fraught with corruption
nadermx | root | parent | next
He never admitted to the attempted murder. So it's not a leap to assume that might of been tainted
seanw444 | root | parent | next
But the feds would never attempt shading means of solving a problem that they're being heavily pressured to solve in a timely manner! Don't be a hecking conspiracy theorist.
jMyles | root | parent
> openly tried to assassinate a competitor.

Unmitigated nonsense. The evidence that he was involved in this is somewhere between unreliable and nonexistent, and he (and the supposed victim) have disputed it since day one. WTF do you mean "openly"?

cbg0 | root | parent
Is this between unreliable and non-existent ?

- Log files found on Ulbricht's laptop with entries corresponding to the murder-for-hire events

- Bitcoin transaction records showing payments

- Messages between DPR and vendors/users about the situations

The court found this evidence admissible as:

- Direct evidence of the charged offenses

- Proof of Ulbricht's role as site administrator

- Evidence of Ulbricht's identity as DPR

- Demonstration of his willingness to use violence to protect the criminal enterprise

The court determined that while prejudicial, the probative value of this evidence outweighed any unfair prejudice, particularly since the government would stipulate no murders actually occurred.

The above is summarized from https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-ulbricht-10

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VWWHFSfQ | parent | next
Ross Ulbricht was not a good person. Full stop.

He organized and operated a global criminal drug ring and conspired to have people killed. The only difference between DPR and Pabla Escobar is that DPR was running his drug business in the 2010s instead of the 1980s.

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trhway | parent
>we don't truly know the extent of the fbi's corruption in this

the corruption what we do know about already tainted the case to the point that it should have been thrown out.

I don't care about Ulbricht, and whether he is guilty of all or some of the charges or innocent. What bothers me in this case is that the government can get away and in particular can get its way in court even with such severe criminal behavior by the government.

Rare case when i agree with Trump:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o

"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me," Trump said in his post online on Tuesday evening."

Trump even personally called Ulbricht mother. I start to wonder whether i have been all that time in blind denial about Trump.

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