Why? The guy tried to hire a hitman.

Because he was a coder working on his startup with no concern for the massive amounts of harm he was causing and many of the denizens of HN can relate to that.

Ross could hustle, and single handedly built a unicorn. He just needs to improve his regulatory exposure profile.

Agreed. You can forgive some of his other less than upstanding activities but the dude hired a hitman. I hope that’s a bridge too far for everybody.

I mostly agree, but I would like to see the full context of the hitman stuff. My understanding is that it was a law enforcement plant that encouraged him to hire a hitman and then referred him to one, which was of course also a plant. Still bad, but also seems a bit like entrapment.

He has spent 10 years in federal prison. He was never convicted of any murder for hire scheme.

No he didn't. There is literally no evidence he ever tried to hire a hitman or hurt anyone in any way.