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The U.S. government and its allies are using the case

Dec. 4, 2017 by Devin Jones

The U.S. government and its allies are using the case as an opportunity to pressure the U.S. to extradite Ross Ulbricht, a prolific online criminal who was convicted of a slew of crimes in the U.S. in 2001.

"If this case is successful, the Department of Justice can no longer ignore a case that has raised serious questions about the public's legal rights under the Fourth Amendment," said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Prosecutors had been seeking to extradite Ulbricht in the first phase of the trial. But last week, the government, with a new, more aggressive approach, told U.S. attorneys that it would not pursue the case until the government had presented evidence that Ulbricht had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" and that the government would not pursue the case.

The United States has declined to extradite Ulbricht, who was held for a year and jailed for his role in the Silk Road site, although he was still awaiting trial. Instead, he is currently being held in the U.S. He faces 20,000 euros ($25,400) in state prison.

The United States Attorney's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is looking for two people with knowledge of the case to assist in the investigation.

"If the U.S. government's case is successful in obtaining evidence that shows our government was working with these individuals, we will file an initial request to extradite the two individuals," said Assistant Attorney General David Borkerman.