A San Francisco man who created the online drug-selling site Silk Road has been sentenced to life in prison.

A judge in Manhattan federal court announced the sentence Friday for 31-year-old Ross Ulbricht.

Ulbricht was convicted in February of charges accusing him of operating the website for nearly three years from 2011 until his 2013 arrest.

Prosecutors say he collected $18 million in bitcoins through commissions on tens of thousands of drug sales.

Federal Judge Katherine Forrest said she considered that Ulbricht tried to arrange the murders of five people he wanted eliminated.

Prosecutors cited at least six deaths traced to overdoses from drugs bought on Silk Road.

A sniffling and apologetic Ulbricht told Forrest he's a changed man.