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A British judge handed down the sentence for Craig Wright. He claimed to be Bitcoin's mysterious founder, Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym), and violated a court order to stop taking related legal action. He received a one-year suspended prison sentence.
Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto for years, was found in contempt of court and given a suspended prison sentence Thursday.
The UK High Court urges Wright to stop taking legal action based on his claims that he is Nakamoto, the pseudonym of the Bitcoin inventor whose true identity remains shrouded in mystery. The court ruled that the order had been violated.
Judge James Mellor sentenced Wright to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered him to pay 145,000 British pounds in costs. This means that unless he violates the court order again during that time, he will not be sentenced to prison. But even if he did, he would not be in the UK and an international arrest warrant could be needed.
Wright appeared remotely by video, saying only that he was in Asia but declining to be more specific. According to the BBC. Mr Mellor said Mr Wright “appears to have a good knowledge of countries with which the UK does not have extradition agreements”.
Wright could not immediately be reached for comment. A request for comment has been posted on his post X Social media accounts I didn't get an answer.
In March, Mellor ruled The light is not Nakamoto, it is not something I made. Bitcoinnot the author Bitcoin white paperdid not create any associated technology.
The decision came after Wright said he owned intellectual property related to Bitcoin and sued developers who help maintain the open source code.
However, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance jack dorseydefended the developer. be refuted with one's own argument Wright allegedly submitted forged documents to the court to support his case.
“In both written evidence and several days of oral evidence in cross-examination, I am completely satisfied that Dr Wright lied extensively and repeatedly to the court,” the judge said in May. This was stated in the subsequent written judgment. “Most of his lies related to documents he forged purporting to support his claims. All of his lies and forged documents related to his biggest lie: that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. This supported the claim.”
After the court ruled in favor of the developer, Mr. Wright was ordered to stop taking legal action against the developer based on the debunked claims. But in October, he filed a lawsuit seeking more than 900 billion pounds sterling over bitcoin-related intellectual property rights.
This story was originally Fortune.com
