Former Roommates of Silk Road Owner: “Think of us like Walter, Jr.”

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In a reference to hit show Breaking Bad, a former roommate of Silk Road’s owner Ross William Ulbricht compared himself to Walter, Jr., the son of main character Walter White who was oblivious to his father’s drug empire.

Ulbricht, or the Dread Pirate Roberts, as he was known to the Silk Road community, was arrested in San Francisco last week by federal authorities. Silk Road was a Bitcoin marketplace used primarily for buying and selling drugs and had generated more than $1.2 billion in transaction revenue over the last two years.

Read: The Party is Over. Silk Road Bitcoin Drug Marketplace Seized, Owner Arrested

It turns out that Ulbricht had spent the last few months before his arrest subletting an apartment from two other men in the Sunset District. He used a fake name, Josh, described himself as a currency trader, paid his rent in cash, and kept to himself on his computer most days.

Forbes published a detailed article about how Ulbricht met his former housemates and the surprise that ensued when they saw Ulbricht’s face on the front page of the newspaper the day he was arrested.

“He seemed like a normal guy,” said one roommate in an interview with Forbes. “Obviously he had a dark side, but he never showed any of that.”

“I don’t entirely understand what his motivation was,” said the other roommate. “He’s got all this money and he just sits in a not-particularly nice rental house in the Sunset [District] and just f***s around on the computer all day until he gets sent to prison.”

Read more about Ulbricht’s former housemates at Forbes.

Ulbricht is now being ordered to New York to face charges.

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