Convicted Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht has made his first public statement since he was sentenced to life in prison, writing a letter addressed to PorcFest, a libertarian gathering that he has previously attended.

"Unfortunately the worst case scenario has played out for me and I've been sentenced to spend the rest of my life in prison," writes Ulbricht from the New York City detention facility he's being held at while his appeal proceeds. In the handwritten letter, he goes on to say that he's an "eternal optimist," and "will never give up hope for my release." He hopes the appeals court "will recognize the errors by some and outright corruption by others in the government and give me some kind of remedy. It could be a new trial, where hopefully the whole story can be told, or the case could be dismissed altogether."

"In many ways, my struggle is just getting started now," Ulbricht writes. The letter asks PorcFest attendees for donations for his legal fund, before concluding: "Keep fighting for your freedom and eventually we will win."

The Porcupine Freedom Festival, also known as PorcFest, is an annual "liberty camping event" put on each year in New Hampshire by The Free State Project. Lyn Ulbricht, Ross Ulbricht's mother, spoke about his case there last year.

PorcFest took place in late June. The handwritten letter was posted to the Free Ross website on Monday and reported on Vice earlier today. It's reproduced in full below:

The letter includes two redacted and replaced phrases, which were changed with Ross' permission "as per the attorneys' guidance."

The Free Ross campaign, guided by Lyn Ulbricht, is seeking $650,000 to cover Ulbricht's legal costs, including his appeal. Currently, it has raised just over $370,000.

The "outright corruption" referred to in the letter presumably refers to the two federal agents who stole from the Silk Road while they were investigating it. DEA Agent Carl Force pled guilty to charges of extortion, obstruction, and money laundering earlier this month and will be sentenced in October. Force also had struck a deal with 20th Century Fox to tell his life story for an upcoming Silk Road movie, under which he could have been paid up to $240,000.