Coinspeaker Craig Wright Gets One-Year Sentence for Contempt of Court
Self-acclaimed Bitcoin creator Dr Craig Wright has received a reprimand for contempt of court. Consequently, he received a one-year jail sentence and two years suspension for this offense. Alongside this sentence, he still has to pay £145,000 in costs within a fortnight.
The Australian computer scientist started a legal claim against cryptocurrency developers for 900 billion pounds, worth over $1 trillion. The suit hinges on Intellectual Property (IP) rights related to the Bitcoin system.
COPA Prevails: Wright Faces Contempt of Court
Wright filed a lawsuit against Bitcoin Core developers. He named Square Europe Limited, a subsidiary of Jack Dorsey’s Block, among the defendants.
Based on the filing in the Chancery Division of the High Court in London, the computer scientist laid some accusations against the defendants. One such change is altering Bitcoin’s original features by implementing the Taproot upgrade and Segregated Witness (SegWit).
Craig Wright asserted that these changes deviate from Bitcoin’s original vision. For several years, Wright consistently claimed to be the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) brought this case against him, arguing that Wright’s suit in October violates the London court’s July ruling that prohibited him from pursuing proceedings related to his claim to be Nakamoto.
Jonathan Hough KC, counsel for non-profit group COPA, stated in court that Wright’s legal threats had “terrorized” people and had ended up putting “developers and bloggers through … years of personal hell.”
The new claims are now directed to “cause maximum possible distress.”
Nine months ago, Judge James Mellor ruled that Wright and Satoshi Nakamoto were not the same person.
The ban preventing him from pursuing more legal actions related to his claims became necessary after Wright brought several court cases against the Bitcoin community. In Judge Mellor’s opinion, “When it comes to the grounds of contempt, I have found each of them proved beyond reasonable doubt.”
Most of his cases centered around the Bitcoin Whitepaper, libel suits, and some claims against developers.
In November, a UK court had to dismiss Wright’s claim that he is the original author of Bitcoin’s Whitepaper, automatically debasing his claim to be the famous Satoshi Nakamoto. In all of these, Wright has been accused of lying to the court through forged documents that did not prove anything to his claims.
According to his defense, Craig Wright argued that the Judge was biased in the ruling earlier this year.
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Craig Wright Gets One-Year Sentence for Contempt of Court
