I don’t understand exactly what his crime was. Wasn’t he just a mediator?
…mutter mutter something WAR ON DRUGS something something…
Kind of, but isn’t that bad? The brick and mortar equivalent would be to set up an office building, encourage drug dealers to move in, give them phone numbers of potential customers, provide security, and charge them for the services. He was closer to being a mob boss than an BBS operator.
Except mob bosses get a cut of the take. You just described a landlord who took the fall for his tenants, which is perfectly in line with the Global War on Drugs.
This is such… Rraaaaaaaawww!!!
If he had been convicted of the potential hits, sure. But life? For SR? This is such a waste on so many levels.
Excuse my ignorance, but didn’t the Silk Road in fact get a take of the transactions?
I have no idea, but do I let that stop me from having opinions?
So did he.
Yes he did. But this sentencing is so over the top its… I don’t have the words.
I dunno - seems a bit harsh. I mean the guy DID have someone killed (or would have, had his hit man not have been Fed). So certainly some hard time was in order.
It is hard for me to fault the other activities such as a free market to sell what ever, as I don’t think those things should be illegal.
We mustn’t forget that the US legal system doesn’t even pretend to be about rehabilitation anymore. It’s about revenge.
The average commission was 7.4%. You can still have your opinion, though, but Ross is looking like a mob boss who doesn’t do any of the actual dirty work. Landlords don’t typically “take falls” as a job description (although drug laws do prosecute them)
There’s also deterrence.
Yeah, but he wasn’t convicted or sentenced for that. Even if he is a raving sociopath, this sentencing had nothing to do with that.
Too bad he wasn’t a Wall Street or bank CEO: pay a fine – if any – and go back to work, sleep in your own bed and just basically carry on with your life with very slight changes so you don’t get caught again.
I don’t believe the sentencing covered his attempted hits.
Wall Street CEOs aren’t druglords, so yeah. People get away with fines for civil fraud.
His model made everyone so much safer that the pretended need for the War! on Drugs! became laughable.
So yeah, they had to do this.
He didn’t threaten you or me, he threatened them.
If he had been a REAL businessman he would have had lawyers and lobbyists while he ran his business.
Better he had crashed the world economy or killed a black man…
