Trump pardons Silk Road dark web market creator Ross Ulbricht

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o

Sentencing Ulbricht - who has two college degrees - District Judge Katherine Forrest said he was "no better a person than any other drug dealer".

She said the site had been his "carefully planned life's work".

The judge noted the lengthy sentence also acted as a message to copycats that there would be "very serious consequences".

"I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity," Ulbricht said at his sentencing in May 2015.