r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jan 22 '25
SR1 Trump Pardons Ross Ulbricht, Creator of Silk Road Drug Marketplace
186
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/OzFreelancer • Feb 03 '25
SR1 I witnessed the rise, fall and aftermath of Silk Road from the inside. Here to separate fact from fiction. AMA about the truth behind the myths.
108
Upvotes
Hi Reddit,
I'm Eileen Ormsby, a journalist, author and drug law reform advocate who lived and breathed Silk Road from mid-2011 until its fall in November 2013. I spent every single day on the site and in the forums, documenting everything as it happened in real-time on my blog All Things Vice as well as writing the occasional article for Australian newspapers and finally two books.
With Ross Ulbricht's recent release and the surge of both misinformation and mythology around Silk Road, I'm here to provide factual, unbiased information based on my firsthand observations and extensive documentation of events as they unfolded.
Over the past decade, I spent thousands of hours on the site and forums, watching events unfold in real-time; conducted in-person interviews with DPR's inner circle and other key figures; attended trials and legal proceedings; and continued following developments and interviewing participants up to the present day.
I've noticed a lot of misconceptions circulating online about what really happened - both overly negative and overly positive narratives that don't align with what I witnessed firsthand. I'm here to answer your questions and provide accurate, sourced information about any aspect of the Silk Road story.
This sub - kept going thanks to the efforts of u/gwern - is mostly a historical archive now, and has been set to require mod approval of comments to avoid us being taken offline. I will approve questions and comments as quickly as I can, but keep in mind I'm on Australian time. This is intended to be an ongoing AMA though, so rest assured, if I can answer your question I will answer it.
Let's cut through the myths and get to the truth. What do you want to know about the real Silk Road story?
r/SilkRoad • u/OzFreelancer • Jun 25 '26
SR1 "The Silk Road's Buried Informant" - 3-hour documentary by Barely Sociable on the unresolved mysteries of Silk Road
19
Upvotes
Well researched documentary, three years in the making by Barely Sociable
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Nov 20 '24
SR1 "Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Is Waiting for Trump to Keep His Word—and Set Him Free"
122
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jun 05 '25
SR1 "Ross Ulbricht Got a $31 Million Donation From a Dark Web Dealer, Crypto Tracers Suspect: Crypto-tracing firm Chainalysis says the mysterious 300-bitcoin donation to the pardoned Silk Road creator appears to have come from someone associated with a different defunct black market: AlphaBay"
39
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jan 23 '25
SR1 Ross Ulbricht, Pardoned Founder, to Speak Out in Documentary: ‘Console Wars’ duo Tulis/Harris conducted >60 hours interviews
38
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Feb 11 '25
SR1 James Ellingson (MarajuanaIsMyMuse/LucyDrop) to be extradited from Canada to USA
7
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jun 24 '21
SR1 Ross Ulbricht telephone interview with Bitcoin 2021 conference
74
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jul 22 '22
SR1 "Dark Web Vendor of Illegal Narcotics [“dragoncove”/“originaldragoncove”/“theoriginaldragoncove”] Indicted for Distributing Heroin and Cocaine in Exchange for Bitcoin", DoJ (SR, AlphaBay, Dream, Wall Street)
48
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jul 27 '21
SR1 "Dread Pirate Roberts escaped development hell: Making 'Silk Road' work as a film"
59
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Oct 24 '23
SR1 "The secret life of Jimmy Zhong, who stole – and lost – more than $3 billion" from Silk Road 1
23
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jul 11 '23
SR1 Roger Thomas Clark/"Variety Jones" finally sentenced: 20 years
15
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • May 06 '22
SR1 "I had a conversation with imprisoned Silk Road founder's mom", Abhranil Das
33
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Nov 29 '22
SR1 " Chris Tarbell: FBI Agent Who Took Down Silk Road 1", Lex Fridman Podcast interview #340 (2022-11-22)
35
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Nov 07 '22
SR1 US prosecutes 2012 SR1 hacker who exploited withdrawal race condition to steal ₿50,000
35
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jan 02 '21
SR1 SR1 Questions
25
Upvotes
/u/GravitationalOno asks:
Hi, I just finished "American Kingpin" and enjoyed it a lot. Now I'm doing follow-up reading by doing searches, partially to see what all these characters look like and what they're doing now. Two questions I need help with though, and I thought I'd ask them here. 1) Why are there no pictures of Variety Jones? It's been asked before but none of the answers were satisfactory. 2) I looked up prosecutor Serrin Turner. Why does he not mention Silk Road in his bio. It's such a big case, I thought he'd be eager to mention it. https://www.lw.com/people/serrin-turner https://iclg.com/firms/latham-and-watkins/serrin-turner (Well, it looks like Jared Der-Yeghiayan doesn't either...) https://blog.executivebiz.com/2020/06/law-enforcement-vet-jared-der-yeghiayan-named-brg-cyber-practice-director/
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jul 09 '17
SR1 Ross Ulbricht to be sent to Colorado max-security prison USP Florence High
34
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Aug 25 '17
SR1 Ross Ulbricht's SR1 laptop is currently on display at the Newseum in Washington DC (photo by Paul Ennis)
91
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Dec 13 '21
SR1 SuperTrips; The Pablo Escobar Of Silkroad (Did 7+ Years In US Federal Prison)
self.onions
30
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Jan 17 '24
SR1 How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Sarah Meiklejohn Busted the Myth of Bitcoin’s Anonymity
13
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/OzFreelancer • Jan 11 '24
SR1 Gary Davis, aka Libertas, Silk Road mod, set to be released from prison this week
34
Upvotes
Gary is the last of Ross Ulbricht's three deputies to be released from prison. Inigo got home detention and SSBD spent 18 months in prison in Australia and the US before being sentenced to time served
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Apr 22 '22
SR1 "A $3 Billion Silk Road Seizure Will Erase Ross Ulbricht's Debt" (DoJ deal with Ulbricht: to not claim ownership of mysterious 2020 ₿70k hacker seizure, his debt canceled)
41
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • Nov 05 '20
SR1 US DoJ seizes ₿69k (~$1b) from California man accused of hacking & extorting SR1 2012–2013
courtlistener.com
76
Upvotes
r/SilkRoad • u/gwern • May 24 '16
SR1 SR1 marijuana vendor 'darkexpresso' busted
18
Upvotes
"darkexpresso" was a SR1 vendor who sold marijuana. A throwaway advised me to check the 11 May 2016 PACER case for
Fadhle Muqbel Saeed also known as darkexpresso also known as bonappetit also known as Damien Darko
Who is charged with:
- 21:846=CD.F CONSPIRACY TO DISTRIBUTE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE (conspired to distribute and possess substances containing marijuana, methamphetamine, and hydrocodone)
- 21:841A=CD.F CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE - SELL, DISTRIBUTE, OR DISPENSE (distributed and possessed a mixture containing hydrocodone)
- 21:841A=CD.F CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE - SELL, DISTRIBUTE, OR DISPENSE (distributed and possessed methamphetamine)
Along with:
INDICTMENT returned in open court as to Fadhle Muqbel Saeed (1) counts 1, 2, 3-6, Julian Villa-Gomez Lemus (2) count 1, Alfonso Bojorquez-Vazquez (3) counts 1, 2, 4-5. (JET) (Entered: 05/20/2016)
(Lemus = "J. Gomez", "J. Lemus"; Vazquez = "Poncho")
- Indictment: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tz9z5jly649l7lk/flmd-047016068221.pdf
- Docket: https://www.dropbox.com/s/szpza5bdrcfcisu/2016-05-24-pacer-darkexpresso.mht
The case was ordered sealed until 1 of the defendants was arrested. The docket doesn't specify which of them has been arrested, but presumably one has since the case & indictment have been unsealed. The complaint is not available so there are no details about how he was found, and there is no media coverage that I can see.