Before sentencing, Ulbricht begs for leniency: “please leave me my old age”

Convicted Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and no less than 97 of his friends and family members have written to a judge just days prior to sentencing, asking her to impose the most lenient sentence possible. (Ars has posted the letters online along with the court filing of photos of Ulbricht and many family and friends.)

Under federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, Ulbricht faces at least 20 years in prison and possibly as long as life behind bars.

“Silk Road turned out to be a very naive and costly idea that I deeply regret,” he wrote in his own 1.5 page letter to United States District Judge Katherine Forrest filed on Friday.

As he continued:

As I see it, a life sentence is more similar in nature to a death sentence than it is to a sentence with a finite number of years. Both condemn you to die in prison, a life sentence just takes longer. If I do make it out of prison, decades from now, I won’t be the same man, and the world won’t be the same place. I certainly won’t be the rebellious risk taker I was when I created Silk Road. In fact, I’ll be an old man, at least 50, with the additional wear and tear prison life brings. I will know firsthand the heavy price of breaking the law and will know better than anyone that it is not worth it. Even now I understand what a terrible mistake I made. I’ve had my youth, and I know you must take away my middle years, but please leave me my old age. Please leave a small light at the end of the tunnel, an excuse to stay healthy, an excuse to dream of better days ahead, and a chance to redeem myself in the free world before I meet my maker.

Ulbricht’s own letter marks the first time he has shown any public remorse during the entire saga, during which he did not testify. His attorney, Joshua Dratel, spun unsubstantiated theories that while Ulbricht created Silk Road, unnamed mysterious others took over the site and should be the ones prosecuted for the crime. Dratel previously vowed to appeal the verdict.

In February 2015, Ulbricht was convicted of seven charges including three drug counts: distributing or aiding and abetting the distribution of narcotics, distributing narcotics or aiding and abetting distribution over the Internet, and conspiracy to violate narcotics laws. He was also convicted on a fourth count of conspiracy to run a "continuing criminal enterprise," which involves supervising at least five other people in an organization. In addition, Ulbricht was convicted on conspiracy charges for computer hacking, distributing false identification, and money laundering.

“Money was never a motivating factor for him.”

Judge Forrest also received letters on Ulbricht’s behalf from people from various points in his life, ranging from his parents to even current and former inmates.

His mother, Lyn Ulbricht, wrote to the judge:

You had the opportunity to sit across the courtroom from Ross for almost a month. You know that the entire time, even when the devastating verdict was read, he conducted himself with dignity and equilibrium. He was unerringly respectful to the court and the people handling him. This is not an incorrigible criminal. This is someone who is civilized, ready to cooperate and endure what he must in the hopes of returning to society as a law abiding citizen. It is someone who can be corrected within the least amount of time allowed. More than that is far greater than necessary.

His father, Kirk Ulbricht, argued:

The Silk Road was created in the hopes that something good would come of it. As history has shown, it quickly spiraled out of control. I know Ross regrets the decision to launch and operate the website. He has told me that in our visits to him in prison. I have seen a very pronounced change in his attitude toward life in general, and in particular to the law, and the consequences of breaking the law. He is a very different person now than he was before his arrest. The experience of a year and a half in prison has matured him more than 15 years of life on the outside would have.

Judge Forrest, please consider that the illegal aspects of Ross' Silk Road experiment represents a complete departure from the trajectory of his life. Please consider that Ross shared an old house and lived like a grad student when he was arrested. He didn’t start the Silk Road out of greed. Money was never a motivating factor for him. He did it because he had an idealistic vision of freedom for all of us. Just as the French Revolution was born of an idealistic idea of freedom, and then became a nightmare that consumed its founders, so reads the story of the Silk Road.

This claim that Ulbricht was not motivated by money ignores the fact that federal agents seized 144,000 bitcoins from his computer. That cache was worth around $17.2 million when he was arrested in October 2013.

Still, in the dozens of letters Ulbricht is portrayed as someone who simply went astray despite good intentions and a longstanding pattern of kindness. Davit Mirzoyan, the mastermind behind a massive Medicare scheme who pleaded guilty in 2012, wrote to Judge Forrest that Ulbricht has been a noteworthy tutor.

As Mirzoyan testified:

When he was helping one prisoner with math in the common area, I mentioned that I wanted to learn physics some day. He heard and told me he'd be happy to tutor me. That same day, he lent me his physics textbook and we had our first lesson. It has been challenging to absorb the material, but Ross helps fill in the gaps and patiently explains the concepts to me. He is attentive and enthusiastic and makes it fun to learn. Every time we sit down for a lesson, I am eager to move forward and make productive use of my time in prison.

The more I get to know Ross, the more sad I become knowing he faces so much time. I sincerely believe everyone deserves a second chance and I hope you will find it wise to give Ross one at sentencing.

Ulbricht's sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 29, 2015 at 1:30pm in a Manhattan federal courtroom.