In a twist, a massive trove of stolen bitcoins will repay Ross Ulbricht’s $183 million restitution.
, as was the pardon he sought from President Trump. But a little over a year ago, it appears Ulbricht finally got a break of a different kind: The nine-figure debt he owed to the US government as part of his sentence will be erased—all thanks to the fortuitous hoarding of a hacker who'd stolen a massive trove of bitcoins from his market.
Ulbricht, of course, still faces life in prison. He has already served eight years of that sentence at jails in New York and penitentiaries in Colorado and Arizona. But the repayment of his restitution could mean that he's able to earn money in prison to share with family or friends without it being seized or garnished to pay his debts—or even keep any previously unknown caches of bitcoins that he may possess, so long as they aren't tied to the Silk Road or other criminal sources.
The strange series of events that ultimately led to Ulbricht's restitution windfall first came to light in November 2020, when the Justice Department announced that it had. That unnamed individual, according to an IRS criminal investigations affidavit, had stolen the bitcoin fortune from the Silk Road while it was still online by exploiting a security vulnerability in the site.
Ulbricht's mother, Lyn Ulbricht, who has championed her son's defense and the case for a pardon since his arrest, wrote in a statement to WIRED that the repayment of his restitution represents a significant victory.
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