Defense Lawyer: Silk Road Creator Is Not A Drug Dealer
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New York defense lawyer says a San Francisco man who launched an underground website as an economic experiment was fooled into taking the fall when investigators concluded it was used for drug dealing.
Attorney Joshua Dratel said at the criminal trial's opening Tuesday that Ross William Ulbricht was no drug dealer and should be found not guilty.
Prosecutor Timothy Howard, however, told jurors that the Silk Road website was an online shopping paradise for the sale of dangerous illegal drugs, and that Ulbricht was the kingpin of the digital criminal enterprise, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported. To avoid exposure, said the prosecutor, Ulbricht was even ready to have people murdered.
Defense Lawyer: Silk Road Creator Is Not A Drug Dealer
"This is a case about a dark and secret part of the Internet," Howard told jurors.
The prosecutor said Ulbricht enabled more than 1 million drug deals on Silk Road, earning about $18 million.
Ulbricht disputes he operated online under the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts," a reference to a swashbuckling character in "The Princess Bride."
He also is charged in Baltimore federal court in an attempted murder-for-hire scheme.
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