Man who falsely claimed to be Bitcoin’s creator sentenced for continuing to sue developers | Bitcoin

An Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin has been given a one-year suspended prison sentence after the High Court in London ruled he was in contempt because he would not stop suing people.

Judge Mellor had already found that Craig Wright, 54, repeatedly lied about his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the person or people who launched Bitcoin – the cryptocurrency that was first mined in 2009 and whose value has risen. Recently to British Pounds. 79000.

Wright had claimed intellectual property rights linked to Bitcoin, but this was demolished when the Supreme Court found he had lied about his role, frequently spreading “massive” clumsy forgeries and “techno gossip”. The real Nakamoto is likely a billionaire as he is believed to own 1 million Bitcoins.

Wright was subsequently ordered to stop taking legal action against Bitcoin developers, but he defied a court order in October when he brought claims against cryptocurrency developers to the tune of more than £900bn in relation to alleged intellectual property rights relating to Bitcoin.

He also repeated his claim that he is Nakamoto, said Jonathan Hogg KC, counsel for the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (Copa), a non-profit group of cryptocurrency companies that filed the suit against Wright.

Wright was sentenced Thursday on five counts of contempt of court. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and to pay £145,000 in costs within two weeks, and the court also canceled his massive claim.

Hogg told the court that Wright’s legal threats had “terrified” people, put “developers and bloggers through… years of personal hell” and that the new allegations were intended to “cause as much distress as possible”.

Hogg said his latest legal action was a “desperate publicity stunt to keep his supporters engaged.” He added that Wright sought to fight back by claiming judicial bias, and even claimed that he was a victim of the British aristocracy because of the appearance of the word “Lord” in the court rulings against him. The judge found that Wright’s contempt was proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Wright, who appeared via video link from somewhere in Asia – and declined to say where – said he would appeal. He refused to comply with the order to appear in person during the hearing on Wednesday when he said he could only do so if he received £240,000 to cover his costs and lost earnings.

The courtroom was packed with onlookers, including a man wearing a T-shirt with the slogan: “This is just an elaborate fantasy.”

In a Supreme Court ruling in May, Mellor said Wright presents himself as a highly intelligent person, “however, in my opinion, he is not as intelligent as he thinks he is.” He said he was a “very evasive witness.”

“In his written evidence and through days of oral evidence under cross-examination, I am absolutely satisfied that Dr. Wright lied to the court extensively and repeatedly,” the judge said. “Most of his lies related to the documents he forged that he claimed supported his claim. All of his lies and forged documents supported his biggest lie: his claim that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.