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Silk Road Internet marketplace founder Ross Ulbricht found guilty on all counts

Ulbricht faces life in prison for the charges against him

Payton Guion
Wednesday 04 February 2015 17:25 EST
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Ross Ulbricht
Ross Ulbricht (Silk Road)

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Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the infamous Silk Road internet marketplace, has been found guilty on all counts by a Manhattan jury.

Ulbricht, 30, ran Silk Road, an online black market where users could anonymously buy drugs, weapons and other illicit goods, from 2011 until 2013, when he was caught at a San Francisco library logged into the website, according to Bloomberg.

The defence claimed that Ulbricht started Silk Road as an economic experiment, but handed it off to others after a few months, before being lured back to the site to be set up as a fall guy when prosecutors were closing in.

The jury rejected that version of events and deliberation took about three hours. Ulbricht faces life in prison following the conviction on charges of narcotics trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

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