Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb has publicly claimed that the Department of Justice threatened President Donald Trump in January 2021 with prosecution if he commuted Ross Ulbricht’s sentence — leading Trump to back away from the commutation. Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder, served four more years in prison before receiving a full pardon in January 2025 during Trump’s second term. The allegation, posted by Loeb on social media this week, has reignited debate over the DOJ’s role in the case, though it remains uncorroborated.
The alleged threat
According to Loeb, then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen and Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue communicated to Trump that the DOJ would “go after” him if he commuted Ulbricht’s sentence. The threat, Loeb said, caused Trump to withdraw the commutation. Neither Rosen nor Donoghue has commented publicly on the claim, and no specific DOJ officials were named in Loeb’s account. The story hasn’t been independently verified, and it’s unclear when Loeb learned of the alleged exchange.
A long prison term
Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 for operating Silk Road, the dark-web marketplace. He received a double life sentence plus 40 years on charges including narcotics distribution, money laundering, and hacking — but was never prosecuted for murder-for-hire. The 2021 reversal meant he stayed behind bars until Trump pardoned him in early 2025. That pardon fulfilled a key campaign promise from Trump’s 2024 run, a pledge that helped secure libertarian and crypto voter support.
Political momentum and lingering questions
The “Free Ross” movement grew louder during Ulbricht’s extended imprisonment, turning into a staple of crypto-friendly political circles. Loeb’s allegation, if true, would mean the DOJ effectively stonewalled a presidential commutation for years. But without corroboration — from Rosen, Donoghue, or anyone else — it remains a single account. For now, the question hanging over the story is whether anyone inside the DOJ will confirm or deny the threat, or whether the 2021 episode will remain an unverified footnote in Ulbricht’s long road to freedom.
