In addition to receiving a life sentence on Friday, Ross Ulbricht, the owner and operator of dark web marketplace the Silk Road, was ordered to pay $183,961,921, or the equivalent of the drug and fake identification transactions from the site, according to an FBI press release.
Ulbricht's request for a lower security prison was also denied by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest during the sentencing.
Judge Forrest said during the sentencing: “There must be no doubt that you cannot run a massive criminal enterprise and because it occurred over the internet minimize the crime committed on that basis.”
Ulbricht, as well as his friends and family, submitted letters to Judge Forrest prior to the sentencing to plead for a lenient sentence. Meanwhile the prosecution submitted its own letter urging the judge to set an example with Ulbricht.
