Ross Ulbricht's family are now appealing for donations to support his reintegration into society Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is now a free man after US President Donald Trump made good on his promise to issue a federal pardon upon taking office.

Social media slams Donald Trump for giving Silk Road operator and notorious drug dealer Ross Ulbricht an unconditional pardon.

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is free after spending over a decade behind bars — and he's taken his little prison plant with him.

In 2015, a 31-year-old yoga enthusiast from Austin named Ross Ulbricht was found guilty of being the online drug kingpin “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Convicted on 7 counts, the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Trump pardoned Ulbricht on Tuesday and now he’s a free man after more than 10 years in custody.

Law enforcement said Ulbricht created the “most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” on the internet.

Ulbricht, 40, was about 10 years into his life sentence for helming an online black market where drug dealers, money launderers, and traffickers used bitcoins to mask more than $214 million in illicit trades. (Ars thoroughly documented the Silk Road saga here .)

Trump announced that he signed a full pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder who was sentenced to life in prison.

President Donald Trump pardoned the founder of darknet marketplace Silk Road, he said in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday night.

Ulbricht, 40, had been serving a life sentence on federal drug trafficking charges for setting up the illegal website.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.

Ulbricht, who used the nom de plume “Dread Pirate Roberts” to hide his identity, was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison.