Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor in contempt of court docket over $1.2 trillion UK lawsuit

LONDON (Reuters) -An Australian laptop scientist who falsely claimed he invented bitcoin was sentenced for contempt of court docket on Thursday for bringing a 911 billion-pound ($1.2 trillion) lawsuit towards Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s funds firm Block in Britain.

Craig Wright had lengthy claimed to have been the creator of a 2008 white paper, the foundational textual content of bitcoin, revealed beneath the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.”

However a decide at London’s Excessive Courtroom present in Might that Wright had repeatedly lied and cast paperwork to help his false declare, after the trial of a case introduced by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to cease Wright suing bitcoin builders.

COPA argued that Wright’s latest lawsuit towards Block and others breached an injunction stopping Wright from bringing litigation on the idea of his declare to be Satoshi or that he owned mental property rights over bitcoin.

The group’s lawyer Jonathan Hough instructed the court docket that Wright’s newest lawsuit was “a determined publicity stunt to maintain his cultish supporters engaged.”

Decide James Mellor dominated on Thursday that Wright was in contempt of court docket, following a listening to on Wednesday which Wright didn’t attend.

Wright attended his sentencing listening to remotely however refused to say which nation he was presently in when requested by Mellor.

The decide imposed a sentence of 1 yr in jail, suspended for 2 years, for what he mentioned was a “flagrant breach” of the court docket’s order. Mellor additionally threw out Wright’s lawsuit towards Block and others.

Wright, who mentioned he would enchantment towards the discovering that he was in contempt of court docket, was refused permission final month to enchantment towards Mellor’s ruling that he didn’t invent bitcoin.