Social media slams Donald Trump for giving Silk Road operator and notorious drug dealer Ross Ulbricht an unconditional pardon.

Law enforcement said Ulbricht created the “most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” on the internet.

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for drug trafficking, computer hacking, and money laundering.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., discusses President Donald Trump pardoning Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht on ‘The Will Cain Show.’

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday on Truth Social that he had pardoned Texas native and Silk Road website founder Ross Ulbricht.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running an underground online marketplace where drug dealers and others conducted more than $200 million in illicit trade using bitcoin.

In 2015, a 31-year-old yoga enthusiast from Austin named Ross Ulbricht was found guilty of being the online drug kingpin “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Convicted on 7 counts, the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Trump pardoned Ulbricht on Tuesday and now he’s a free man after more than 10 years in custody.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to his website, where users could buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods with bitcoin.

President Trump said he granted the full pardon in honor of Ross Ulbricht's mother "and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly."

Ulbricht, 40, was about 10 years into his life sentence for helming an online black market where drug dealers, money launderers, and traffickers used bitcoins to mask more than $214 million in illicit trades. (Ars thoroughly documented the Silk Road saga here .)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening said he issued a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web Silk Road marketplace for illicit drugs.