Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Sentenced To Life In Prison For Drug Plot

The accused mastermind behind the underground website Silk Road was sentenced on Friday to life in prison.
This artist rendering shows Ross William Ulbricht, right, appearing in Federal Court with his public defender Brandon LeBlanc, left, in San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero postponed the bail hearing for Ulbricht who is being charged as the mastermind of Silk Road, an encrypted website where users could shop for drugs like heroin and LSD anonymously. (AP Photo/Vicki Behringer)
This artist rendering shows Ross William Ulbricht, right, appearing in Federal Court with his public defender Brandon LeBlanc, left, in San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero postponed the bail hearing for Ulbricht who is being charged as the mastermind of Silk Road, an encrypted website where users could shop for drugs like heroin and LSD anonymously. (AP Photo/Vicki Behringer)

NEW YORK, May 29 (Reuters) - The accused mastermind behind the underground website Silk Road was sentenced on Friday to life in prison for orchestrating a scheme that enabled more than $200 million of anonymous online drug sales using the digital currency bitcoin.

Ross Ulbricht, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan, three months after a federal jury found him guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.

Forrest also ordered Ulbricht to forfeit $183.9 million.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Andre Grenon)

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