A Canadian man who mentored drug trafficker Ross William Ulbricht and helped run his online Silk Road marketplace was sentenced in New York to 20 years in prison.
(Bloomberg) — A Canadian man who mentored drug trafficker Ross William Ulbricht and helped run his online Silk Road marketplace was sentenced in New York to 20 years in prison.
Roger Thomas Clark, 61, known online as “Variety Jones,” was arrested in Thailand in 2015, extradited to the US in 2018 and pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiring to distribute narcotics. Ulbricht, whose alias was “Dread Pirate Roberts,” already is serving a life sentence.
US District Judge Sidney H. Stein sentenced Clark Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.
Clark, who has spent more than seven years behind bars, had asked to be sentenced to time served so he could be released. Clark argued he was subject to brutal treatment during 31 months in a Thai prison and medical negligence over his five years in US custody. The sentencing was delayed numerous times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Clark’s limited access to legal materials, and injuries and illnesses he suffered while in jail.
Prosecutors had argued that Clark should get 20 years.
Ulbricht, 39, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2015 of running Silk Road, where customers used Bitcoin to buy illegal drugs and hacker tools, from 2011 to October 2013. His online alias was taken from a character in the 1987 film “The Princess Bride.”
Prosecutors said Clark, who was also known as “VJ,” “Cimon” and “Plural of Mongoose,” advised the younger man on managing Silk Road.
“Him coming onto the scene has re-inspired me and given me direction on the SR project,” Ulbricht said of Variety Jones in a 2011 journal entry that was introduced at his trial. “He has helped me see a larger vision. A brand that people can come to trust and rally behind. Silk Road chat, Silk Road exchange, Silk Road credit union, Silk Road market, Silk Road everything!”
Clark allegedly advocated intimidation and murder to keep Silk Road’s staff in line.
Prosecutors cited a conversation in which Ulbricht discussed a plan to “track down” a Silk Road employee to make sure he hadn’t gone “off the rails.” Prosecutors claim Clark commented: “Ha, dude, we’re criminal drug dealers — what line shouldn’t we cross?”
The case is US v. Clark, 15-cr-00866, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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