Support continues to grow for the founder of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht.

Ulbricht is currently serving a double life sentence without parole in New York, after he was found guilty of creating and running the Silk Road, a massive dark web drug market.

A petition asking the U.S. President to free Ulbricht was launched by Ulbricht’s parents last year. That petition has just passed the 200,000 signatory mark.

The petition says “Ross was not treated fairly and his sentence is draconian. Justice was not served.”

Further, it claims that Ulbricht’s case was “rife with abuse”. This was in reference to reports that two federal agents involved in the case were found to be corrupt–one of which was later jailed for stealing $359,005 of bitcoin at the time.



When Silk Road was operational, from 2011-2013, sellers on Ulbricht’s site made over more than $214 million peddling goods including heroin and fake passports, according to prosecutors. While some legal watchers felt Ulbricht’s sentencing seemed particularly punitive, it has done little to curb the online drug trade.

A research paper published in 2015, estimates that such markets still generate between $150 and $180 million in revenue each year.