Prosecutor: Online drug scheme earned San Francisco man $18 million

A New York prosecutor told a jury that the 30-year-old suspect enabled more than 1 million drug deals on his Silk Road website.|
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A federal prosecutor in New York says a San Francisco man launched an underground website in 2011 to serve a global online network of drug dealers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Howard told a jury in his opening statement Tuesday that Ross William Ulbricht enabled more than 1 million drug deals on his Silk Road site. He said the 30-year-old man operated like a traditional drug boss, trying to protect drug dealers who made up roughly 95 percent of the site's transactions. He said Ulbricht made about $18 million.

Ulbricht has pleaded not guilty.

Ulbricht disputes he operated online under the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts." That's a reference to a swashbuckling character in the book and movie "The Princess Bride."

He also is charged in Baltimore federal court in an attempted murder-for-hire scheme.

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