United States President Donald Trump said today that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the man behind the “Silk Road” online marketplace that facilitated millions of dollars of drug sales.

In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of masterminding the “dark web” platform, on which some US$200 million ($353m) in narcotics were sold to customers across the world.

Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road under the alias “Dread Pirate Roberts” and who had also been accused of commissioning five murders, was sentenced to two life sentences for narcotics distribution and criminal enterprise.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump had promised to free Ulbricht during a speech at the Libertarian National Convention, as he sought to gain the fringe party’s support.

Ross Ulbricht.

“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honour of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website, a day after being sworn in.

Ulbricht’s case had become a cause celebre in libertarian circles, with supporters decrying the conviction as government over-reach and against the principles of free markets.

“The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern-day weaponisation of government against me,” Trump said today.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that federal and state criminal charges filed against him were politically motivated.

The Republican has previously vowed to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers – though the promise to free Ulbricht brought cheers from the crowd last May.

The Libertarian Party routinely runs minor candidates that promote both popular limited-government ideas like marijuana legalisation while simultaneously pushing fringe ideas such as abolishing the federal tax collection agency or social security.

– Agence France-Presse