Ross Ulbricht, who’s the convicted founder of the online drugs marketplace Silk Road, is to challenge his conviction, just a week after he received a sentence of life in prison.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life for operating the illegal site, but as expected, his attorneys just filed a notice to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Thursday.
Silk Road Founder appeals conviction
The Silk Road virtual marketplace, which was founded in 2011, was basically a haven for buyers and sellers of illegal substances, allowing them to run their businesses without being detected by the authorities.
But before he was sentenced, Ulbricht pleaded with US judge Katherine Forrest not to put him away for life, in order to “leave a small light at the end of the tunnel and a chance to redeem myself in the free world before I meet my maker”.
Forrest rejected his please, and he was also ordered to pay more than $183 million in restitution, basically the amount that prosecutors believe he made in sales. The website was based in the so-called dark web, and only accepted payment in the form of bitcoins, the hard to trace digital currency.
Silk Road’s founder, Ross Ulbricht.
His appeal is one more strange story in the dark tales of Internet culture gone wild. Prosecutors say that Ulbricht oversaw Silk Road’s operations as it grew into a $1.2 billion drug empire, known by users as a shopping site for illegal narcotics, with buyers’ ratings and money back guarantees. Prosecutors and the FBI also say that Ulbricht was a kingpin who hired people online to kill the people trying to extort money out of him.
Ulbricht’s attorneys will no doubt raise in the appeal that the two former agents investigating Silk Road were charged with corruption, money laundering and other offences for stealing bitcoins, allegedly, during the investigation.
And back in February, a jury in Manhattan found Ulbricht guilty of all 7 charges of computer hacking conspiracy, drugs trafficking conspiracy and money laundering. He was arrested in 2013.
Larry Banks is a keen follower of technology and finance. He has worked for a variety of online publications, writing about a diverse range of topics including mobile networks, patents, and Internet video delivery technologies.
Related
Set Your Business Up For Success
Want to make this your most successful year yet? Make sure to cover all your bases. Focus on what you do best and find experts for all of the rest. Fiverr is a great place to find professional help in every field imaginable. Have countless to-dos? Fiverr’s freelancers can be counted on to do them all. On time and on budget.
Wondering where to start? Here are your 3 steps to business success:
1. Build a Better Brand
Want a brand that earns your customers’ trust and loyalty? Don’t confuse them with a bland brand.
Create a standout brand across every aspect of your marketing: Brand your logo, your website, your app, your social media.
You get the picture. (but make sure that picture looks good)
Get a world-class logo design
Design your social media to reflect your brand
Tailor your web and mobile design to fit your brand
2. Grow Your Customer Base
They’re not going to walk in your door if they don’t know who you are. Catch them while they’re browsing the Internet at home. Pop up on mobile while they’re walking around town. Whatever it takes to reel them in.
Pump up your presence online with these easy fixes:
Boost your social media marketing (SMM): Target your ideal customers and appear in their social media feeds.
Level up your search engine marketing (SEM): Pop to the top of the search results with your targeted ads.
Step up your SEO: Rank first on Google search results and get the attention your brand deserves.
3. Stay Ahead of Your Digital Game
To keep pace with the latest digital trends, you have to keep up with the times. This means you need to give your users what they demand.
Constant content updates: Who wants yesterday’s news?
Short, engaging videos: Your customers crave them.
Seamless user experience (UX): Because no one wants to waste time looking around your site for info when they can find it elsewhere faster. A clean, user-friendly user interface (UI) can clean out the clutter and make your users even more engaged.
Stay ahead of the pack with:
Website Content
Short Video Ads
WordPress Site Building
Everything your business needs is just 3 steps away!
Learn more about how to build and grow your business with Fiverr Business Guides.