Silk Road figure appeals sentence

Ross William Ulbricht, the San Francisco man who ran an underground website that allowed drug dealers to sell their goods online, has filed to appeal his conviction and life sentence.

Ulbricht, who was known to federal agents by his online alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was convicted by a Manhattan jury in February for allowing more than $180 million in drug deals to take place on Silk Road, an online black market that was replete with narcotics sales.

A week ago, a judge ruled that Ulbricht, 31, would spend the rest of his life in federal prison.

He filed his appeal Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ulbricht’s attorneys have long argued that the he was framed by other Web-based dealers who were able to conceal their identities.

Although Ulbricht’s attorney has claimed that his client quit the website once it was overrun by drug dealers, federal prosecutors have also accused Ulbricht of plotting the deaths of six people he saw as threats to Silk Road. Ulbricht is awaiting a murder-for-hire trial in Baltimore.