Trump also pardons founder of black market site 'Silk Road' for life

U.S. President Donald Trump, who pardoned a large number of participants in the January 6 Capitol riot, has also pardoned the founder of Silk Road, a black market site where drugs and weapons are illegally traded, sparking controversy.

President Trump said on the 21st local time that he had "full and unconditional" pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an Internet black market site.

President Trump revealed Ulbricht's pardon on his SNS, introducing that he called his mother and informed her of the pardon.

He also slammed the men who tried to convict Ulbricht as "trash" and as "madmen" who were involved in weaponizing the government against him.

Ulbricht was serving a life sentence for founding "Silk Road," a black market site that mainly trades illegal goods such as drugs and weapons, using bitcoin, a virtual currency, as a means of trading.

Some liberals and virtual currency advocates in the U.S. have called for Ulbricht's pardon, saying the government is overly involved in free markets.

In May last year, President Trump attended the Liberal Party National Convention, a liberal party, and expressed his intention to commute his sentence to Ulbricht, who is supported by liberals, if he is elected.