Silk Road Kingpin Jailed For Drugs Plot

The mastermind behind the underground website Silk Road has been sentenced to life in prison for an online drugs plot worth $200m.

Ross Ulbricht, 31, amassed a fortune of $18m (£11.7m) through a scheme that enabled millions in online drug sales using the digital currency bitcoin.

During sentencing in Manhattan, Judge Katherine Forrest cited six deaths that resulted from overdoses of drugs bought on his website.

The judge said Ulbricht's efforts to arrange the murders of five people he deemed as threats to his business - although no bodies were found - was proof that Silk Road had not become the "world without restrictions, of ultimate freedom" that he claimed he sought.

Dismissing his attempt to characterise the business as a big mistake, Ms Forrest said: "It was a carefully planned life's work. It was your opus. You are no better a person than any other drug dealer."

Ulbricht, who has two college degrees, was handed two life sentences, plus five years, 15 years and 20 years to be served concurrently. He was also ordered to forfeit $183.9m (£120.2m).

He was convicted three months after a jury found him guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.

He carried out a million drug deals over three years from 2011 to 2013 until his arrest. The website, which he operated under the alias Dread Pirate Roberts, listed thousands of drugs under categories such as "Cannabis", ''Psychedelics" and "Stimulants".

Ms Forrest said she was "blown away in fury" at the "breathtakingly irresponsible" internet postings of a doctor who advised customers on Silk Road about the effects of various drugs.

Before the sentence was announced an apologetic Ulbricht said he was a changed man.

He said: "I've essentially ruined my life and broken the hearts of every member of my family and my closest friends.

"I'm not a self-centred sociopathic person that was trying to express some inner badness. I do love freedom."

As he left the courtroom, he carried with him photographs of those who died as a result of drugs purchased on Silk Road.