![[#~image_alt_1~#]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd3klpa3rfwubzz.cloudfront.net%2Fmedia%2FAPI%20Uploads%2FCRM%2F2aab93d91c0f229060275f0e3fe7bac7_7d146777c2.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
It looked like any online store. Except nothing on it was legal. Silk Road was a hidden marketplace on the dark web, and its mastermind went by a pseudonym: Dread Pirate Roberts.
In Casefile's Case 76: Silk Road (Part 1), the show's anonymous host walks through the rise of the site and the man federal prosecutors say was behind it, Ross Ulbricht. Casefile is known for its calm, no-frills narration and tight research. There are no theatrics here, just the timeline, told in order, and it is more than enough.
The story moves fast. A anonymous marketplace grows into a global operation. Investigators try to work out who is running it. And the person at the center is a young man whose public image does not match what prosecutors later argued. Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison. In January 2025, he received a presidential pardon, a stunning final turn in a case that has divided people for years over how much responsibility belongs to the creator of a platform.
So how does a faceless site on a hidden network get unmasked? And what did investigators find when they finally got there? Part 1 sets up the questions. Settle in tonight and listen on Apple Podcasts, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.
