'Satoshi' impersonator Dr Craig Wright faces application for imprisonment for contempt
The crypto-entrepreneur whose claim to be bitcoin inventor 'Satoshi Nakamoto' was demolished by the High Court earlier this year today refused to attend a contempt hearing - despite an offer by his litigation opponents to cover his air fare plus loss of earnings.
Dr Craig Wright, who is presumed to be in Indonesia or Singapore, had been ordered to appear before Mr Justice Mellor to face an application for contempt of court over his alleged breach of a July court order made following the same judge's ruling that Wright's claim to be 'Satoshi' was false.
His opponent, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), is seeking an order committing Wright to prison for 18 months, plus a further six months if he does not promptly discontinue legal claims…
This Australian bitcoin maverick faces jail. But he’s gone AWOL
London | Australian computer scientist and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Craig Wright, who spent almost a decade claiming to be bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto and suing people who said otherwise, could face up to two years’ jail in the UK for allegedly breaching a court order.
Dr Wright was supposed to be in a London court on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) to defend contempt-of-court allegations made by his chief nemesis, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance. But just an hour before the case began, he emailed COPA’s lawyers to say he was staying put abroad, apparently in Singapore or Indonesia.
Craig Wright at one of his previous court cases in London. Getty
In his email, Dr Wright said he did “not have the means to be in the United Kingdom”. COPA’s lawyers replied with an offer to pay for his flight, allowing him to get to the second day of the contempt hearing.
Dr Wright responded in a second email that the flight was only part of what attending court would cost him. There were also accommodation expenses and compensation for being absent from his business. COPA’s lawyers then offered to cover any reasonable expenses.
In his final email of the morning, after the court hearing was already underway, Dr Wright said his costs would be £40,000 ($80,000) a month for the next six months, to compensate for lost contracts and missed opportunities to chase new business. But even so, he said he would still not turn up.
“Even with this funding, I would not be in a position to function adequately under the current circumstances,” he wrote. “I cannot commit to answering questions under oath for COPA, nor can I feasibly travel to fulfil such obligations.”
Despite Dr Wright’s no-show, the hearing began anyway, with barrister Jonathan Hough KC laying out COPA’s case. A judgment is expected on Thursday.
“Having sought to weaponise the English justice system against those he perceives to be his enemies, he is now trying to avoid the consequences,” Mr Hough told the court.
The case arises after COPA, whose leading backers include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Block and crypto exchange giant Coinbase, won a high-profile case against Dr Wright earlier this year.
Dr Wright had claimed that because he was Nakamoto – the anonymous developer or developers whose 2008 white paper explained how bitcoin would work and triggered the cryptocurrency’s creation – he, therefore, owned the intellectual property of bitcoin.
He then began suing cryptocurrency miners, developers and exchanges, saying they were not using bitcoin as he had intended. His vision was of bitcoin not as an expensively traded commodity, but as an everyday form of digital cash – from which his companies could reap fee revenue.
But his years of complex courtroom manoeuvres floundered decisively in March: UK High Court judge James Mellor ruled that the 53-year-old Australian was not Nakamoto, and thus could not claim copyright or intellectual property in the bitcoin white paper, file format or system.
In a subsequent court order issued in July, Justice Mellor barred Dr Wright from filing any more lawsuits based on claims that he owned the intellectual property, copyright or database rights to bitcoin.
But in early October, Dr Wright came back with a fresh claim in the English courts, seeking more than £900 billion ($1.8 trillion) in compensation from more than 100 cryptocurrency entities, alleging misuse of his intellectual property and copyright.
Dr Wright does not claim to be Nakamoto in this new case, instead arguing that the investment he has made in developing and extending bitcoin gives him ownership of goodwill in the cryptocurrency.
Mr Hough alleged that Dr Wright hoped to circumvent the July injunction against fresh lawsuits by avoiding any explicit claim to be Nakamoto. But COPA argued that Dr Wright’s actions were “vexatious” and still fell within the ban, leaving him in contempt of court.
“What we see here is Dr Wright squirming to avoid a breach of the court order,” Mr Hough said. “Only a custodial sentence would meet the seriousness of these contempts.”
Dr Wright is presumed to be in South-East Asia. At a hearing last month, he argued unsuccessfully that his autism and threats to his family meant he should be allowed to attend the trial remotely.
With the case going ahead, nonetheless, he may learn his fate as soon as Thursday.
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