Bitcoin Inventor Craig Wright Faces Potential Arrest for Perjury
A British judge has taken the step of referring self-proclaimed bitcoin creator Craig Wright to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to evaluate potential criminal charges of perjury and forgery. This move comes in response to Wright’s persistent claims of being the elusive bitcoin inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto. The judge’s decision includes granting two injunctions that prevent Wright from reasserting his assertion of being Nakamoto.
Justice James Mellor of England’s High Court of Justice underscored the seriousness of the situation in a ruling issued recently. Mellor emphasized the need for the CPS to determine whether to pursue legal action against Wright for his alleged perjury and document forgery. The judge did not mince words, stating, “If Wright truly believes he is Nakamoto, he is deceiving himself.”
This development follows a prior ruling by Mellor, where he found Wright to have engaged in extensive deception and document falsification on a significant scale. The legal battle originated when the nonprofit organization Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) took legal action against Wright to challenge his claim of being the mastermind behind Bitcoin and to prevent him from asserting intellectual property rights over the cryptocurrency system.
Wright’s current whereabouts are shrouded in mystery, as highlighted in the recent ruling. COPA has encountered difficulties in serving Wright with legal documents due to his elusive nature, prompting the organization to seek alternative means of notification. Mellor acknowledged the challenges faced by COPA in locating Wright and supported their request to serve him through his legal representatives.
In addition to the criminal referral, the judge also approved COPA’s plea for injunctions to prevent Wright from initiating certain lawsuits based on his alleged role in inventing Bitcoin. These measures are designed to curtail Wright’s ability to threaten legal action against developers in the cryptocurrency space.
While Mellor declined some of COPA’s additional requests, he underscored the importance of preventing Wright from making baseless claims and reiterated the need to protect the interests of the Bitcoin community. The judge acknowledged the potential for Wright to resume his public assertions regarding Bitcoin’s creation and granted COPA the option to seek further injunctive relief if deemed necessary within a two-year period.
In conclusion, the legal proceedings surrounding Craig Wright’s claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto continue to unfold, with the courts taking decisive action to address the alleged perjury and forgery at the heart of this contentious issue.
