A jury was sworn and heard competing openings about whether Ross Ulbricht continued operating Silk Road as Dread Pirate Roberts after creating it. The first witness, HSI agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan, described intercepted drug shipments, undercover work, and Tor. The court also set limits on oral readings of written chats.
Full day summary
Judge Katherine B. Forrest barred paralegals from reading written chats aloud but permitted readings involving prosecutors or a prosecutor and witness. She announced a limiting instruction emphasizing the chats' written form and left the ruling open to reassessment. A jury of 12 and four alternates was impanelled and sworn. Forrest explained the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the defense's right not to present evidence, and that opening statements were not evidence.
In the government's opening, Timothy Howard alleged that Ross Ulbricht created and operated Silk Road as Dread Pirate Roberts, collecting commissions on illegal transactions. He previewed arrest and laptop evidence, digital records, and witness testimony as expected proof of that identity. Howard also alleged unsuccessful arrangements to have people murdered to prevent disclosures about Silk Road.
Joshua Dratel acknowledged that Ulbricht created Silk Road but said he handed it to others, who later lured him back to take the blame. Dratel challenged the attribution of the site's operation to Ulbricht, offered Bitcoin trading as an alternative explanation for his holdings, and questioned cooperating witnesses' incentives. He also said an expected stipulation would address the absence of evidence that alleged targets of violence existed or were harmed. These competing accounts were opening arguments, not findings.
The government then called HSI Special Agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan. He described drug shipments intercepted through O'Hare and explained how investigators linked many seizures to Silk Road vendors through appearance, shipping origins, packaging, and undercover purchases. The court admitted Exhibit 104, which he estimated contained approximately 3,600 envelopes seized from October 2011 through April 2013. He testified that he operated the Cirrus staff account from July 2013 until Silk Road closed. The court also admitted a Tor video over the defense's renewed objection. Der-Yeghiayan clarified that it showed a different hidden service, explained IP masking, and stated that using Tor itself was not illegal.