But Ulbricht, who called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts from the movie and novel "The Princess Bride," was just a "fall guy" who handed control of his "economic experiment" to others when daily operations became "too much for him," and returned to run the site just as federal authorities closed in, Dratel argued. The government alleges Ulbricht ran the criminal marketplace known as Silk Road, where the underworld sold illegal drugs, weapons and hacking services, according to reports by Wired, Bloomberg and other media covering the trial this week in New York.ĭratel acknowledged for the first time that Ulbricht, a former Eagle Scout, founded and initially oversaw the $1.2 billion contraband site, which the federal government shut down in October 2013. That, at least, was the argument Tuesday of defense attorney Joshua Dratel in his opening statements at the trial of Ross William Ulbricht.
The man who prosecutors claim is the mastermind behind the the Silk Road illegal online drug marketplace is not who they say he is.
Supporters of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator and operator of the Silk Road underground market, stand in front of a Manhattan federal court house on the first day of jury selection for his trial on Tuesday in New York City.
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