An Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to have invented Bitcoin filed a 911 billion pound ($1.2 trillion) lawsuit against Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's British payments company Block on Thursday. He was found guilty of contempt of court.
Craig Wright has long claimed to be the author of the 2008 white paper underlying Bitcoin, published under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.”
However, a London High Court judge ruled in May that Wright had made false claims after the trial of a lawsuit brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to block his Bitcoin developer lawsuit. It was determined that he had repeatedly lied and forged documents to support his case.
COPA says Wright's recent lawsuit against Block and others could result in an injunction preventing Wright from suing based on claims that he is Satoshi or owns intellectual property rights surrounding Bitcoin. He claimed that there was a violation.
Jonathan Huff, the group's lawyer, told the court that Wright's lawsuit was a “desperate publicity stunt to attract the attention of a cult following.”
Judge James Mellor ruled Thursday that Wright was in contempt of court following Wednesday's hearing, which Wright did not attend.
Mr. Wright appeared remotely at the sentencing hearing, but in response to Mr. Mellor's questions, he declined to say which country he is currently in.
The judge sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for a “clear violation” of the court's order.
Mr. Mellor also dismissed Mr. Wright's lawsuit against Mr. Block and others.
Wright said he would appeal the contempt of court finding, but last month he was denied permission to appeal against Mellor's ruling that he did not invent Bitcoin.
