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rnernento | on: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon
In 2021, Ulbricht's prosecutors and defense agreed that Ulbricht would relinquish any ownership of a newly discovered fund of 50,676 Bitcoin (worth nearly $5.35 billion in 2025) seized from a hacker in November 2021.[78] The Bitcoin had been stolen from Silk Road in 2013 and Ulbricht had been unsuccessful in getting them back. The U.S. government traced and seized the stolen Bitcoin. Ulbricht and the government agreed the fund would be used to pay off Ulbricht's $183 million debt in his criminal case, while the Department of Justice would take custody of the Bitcoin.[79][80]
lvl155 | parent | next
Bingo. US always has been about commerce and money. It wouldn’t shock me if Ross has at least a few million hidden in some “lost wallet” printed out in a vault some where. He was smart enough to know he would get caught one day.
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| root | parent
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dbspin | parent | next
[flagged]
haswell | root | parent | next
What are you suggesting here? That the earlier bitcoin seizure somehow led to this pardon? I’m not following.
dbspin | root | parent
No you're right. I'm sure Trump released him as a deeply principled and selfless act.
haswell | root | parent
I’m not suggesting that. I’m trying to understand what benefit you believe Trump received out of this whole scenario, and specifically how the handling of the bitcoin played a role.
jdhzzz | root | parent
Well an upper bound anyway. Maybe, "The Art of the Deal" could have gotten it a lot closer to $1.2 B.
scotty79 | parent
Wow. Suddenly the pardon makes perfect sense.
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