The founder of dark web marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, has written Bitcoin Cash proponent, Roger Ver, seeking his help in getting clemency for the double life sentence he is currently serving at the United States Penitentiary Florence High in Colorado.

In his letter to Ver, Ulbricht pointed out that he had run out of options and the best hope for him now remained a presidential pardon:

Despite your generous assistance throughout my legal battles, especially at first when very few were coming to my aid, I have lost time and again in court. We gave it a great effort, but the deck is so stacked there’s little chance of winning no matter how much money and talent goes into it. Now my best hope is convincing the president to commute my sentence.

Crypto Influencers’ Support

Ulbricht also made it clear that he needs the support of the crypto community in order to obtain a presidential pardon. Towards this end Ulbricht asked Ver, as well as other highly influential people in the crypto space, to make a video clip adding his voice to the effort to get the U.S. President Donald Trump to commute the life sentence.

A campaign to have Ross Ulbricht granted clemency started last year and a petition on the Change.org website has received nearly 115,000 signatures. Among others, the campaign has received the support of a political party and a state senator. In July last year, the U.S. Libertarian Party passed a resolution during its annual convention urging Trump to grant the founder of Silk Road a full pardon.

@realDonaldTrump – Just do it!!!! Libertarian Party Urges Trump to Pardon Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht https://t.co/9xckwM44hC via @cryptocoinsnews — Devilbutter (@Devil_butter) July 11, 2018

During the yearly convention the former chair of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, Darryl Perry, dubbed Ulbricht a ‘political prisoner’, as CCN.com reported:

We need to send a clear message now, and in two years, and in two more years we need to keep sending this message that we have a political prisoner who is serving two life sentences plus 40 years for the crime of running a website, being a libertarian and being unapologetic about doing those two things.

Libertarian Values and Principles

At the time, the current chairman of the Libertarian Party, Nicholas Sarwark, said that if their demands were not met, they would be left with no choice but to elect a Libertarian president in the next general election.

In October last year, Eric Brakey, a Maine State Senator and a then U.S. Senate Candidate, also added his voice to the campaign saying that Ulbricht had been treated unfairly by the criminal justice system.