Last I heard about this the guy denied being the “Dread Pirate”. Did that change? Did he confess to it?
No, he never denied being it. He claimed that he set it up for someone else and moved on… up until the point where he was caught adminning it.
Records indicate that he never left and proceeded to continue along at all steps of the process.
Long time reader, first time BBS post!
Saw the movie on Epix the other night; Great film, going to rent it to support and show others.
If you watch the film, it will inform that Dread Pirate Roberts was an alias used by multiple people. To say that it was Ross specifically is assuming much, given that the court case didn’t allow for that possibility to be even discussed.
An agent in the investigating squad recently admitted to stealing Bitcoins during the investigation, so trusting them may not be a good idea.
FTFY
There was no evidence that it was used by anyone else, and there was a swath of evidence that he was in control at all times.
Sorry for your Ross, but your paranoid fantasy was blown to smithereens through Ross’ actions and shite OpSec.
Paranoid fantasy?
There was no evidence that is was used by anyone else because the idea wasn’t even allowed as the defense was not allowed to present evidence of its probability. The evidence that precludes that Ross was in control was given by the same agents that are now very untrustworthy.
How is it even the case that these agents had an image of Silk Road’s server to begin tracking down DPR? Could have it been gathered illegally through cooperation with the NSA? “Constructed in parallel?” The origin of this investigation wasn’t, no, couldn’t even be discussed in the trial!
Paranoid reality. See: Citizenfour
There was scores of positive evidence of his involvement at every step along the way. Chat logs, forum posts, private messages, e-mails, accounting spreadsheets and his own diary which explained that he did it, and how he did it.
He used his personal email address when setting up Silk Road, and the foreign data center allowed US government access to image his server.
The defense was allowed to introduce other evidence, but not at the last minute like some dumb fictional law-drama.
They fucked up bigtime by surprising the court with evidence before the prosecution had a chance to look it over. You simply don’t do that, and I question the defense’s abilities.
Parallel construction is a different argument, and quite amusing that you’re simultaneously stating that Ross didn’t do it, but also that he got caught illegally in the act of doing it.
The evidence came from his hands and actions, and treating a hitmen-ordering kingpin like a hero because you want your Bitcoins and DNMs is just sad.
Added some emphasis to my original statement; it doesn’t signify hero-worship nor wanting of Bitcoins & DNMs (don’t even know what you mean. According to UrbanDictionary, it is “Deep N Meaningfuls?” Is that what you are implying I’m implying?)
Verify your sources and don’t invent intent of others words when they clearly don’t mean what you imply.
You appear to be confused. Look up the case record. There is no such thing as “surprise witnesses” in the legal system.
Please be specific when you say records.
His DIARY that he literally started because he thought he was doing something so important somebody would make a film of it.
To say the film is very generous to Ross William “Just Gonna Have to Order a Murder I Guess” Ulbricht is an understatement.
I only listened to the Planet Money Podcast’s account of this, and I recall that they said he denied any connection to the Silk Road site. But the show was produced some time ago and he may have folded against evidence since then.
Defense Attorney Joshua Dratel was next. He got up and made the first substantial statement about Ulbricht’s defense in over a year, and it was a bombshell—he admitted it was true. Ulbricht founded the site. But he was no drug kingpin.
“Ross is a 30-year-old, with a lot at stake in this trial—as you could imagine,” said Dratel, speaking throughout his statement in a low key voice. “This case is about the Internet and the digital world, where not everything is as it seems. Behind a screen, it’s not easy to tell…you don’t know who’s on the other side. You don’t know who to trust.”
Dratel didn’t spell out exactly what he meant by those first cryptic sentences. Instead, he proceeded to make a stunning admission.
“Silk Road was Ross’ idea,” Dratel said.
He was convicted of it though.
Every murderer on Death Row says he didn’t do it too. Doesn’t mean that it is all true.
Murderers on Death Row are sometimes innocent even though convicted.
There is a swath of evidence that he created it (which he admitted to), operated it the entire time (which they claim he didn’t), and he was caught still administrating it by law enforcement.
His family and many admirers can stick to believing conspiracy theories*, but he remains guilty.
*Parallel construction may or may not be a conspiracy, he did start SR under his own personal email address and name. It is however irrelevant to his overwhelming guilt.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure I indirectly acknowledged that in what I said.
I was elaborating.
I get that now. 
He was arrested while at a public library, connected to their wifi, with his laptop logged into the Silk Road administration page.
And, with a chat open on his screen that an FBI agent was having with DPR so they’d know when to strike.
He didn’t leave much doubt, really. Whether it warrants a life sentence is another topic.
