Craig Wright Sentenced One Year in Prison Over Bitcoin Fraud Claims

Key Points:

• Craig Wright received a one-year suspended prison sentence for breaching a court order after filing a $1.2 trillion lawsuit against Block.
• A London court ruled Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, finding he forged documents to support his claim of creating Bitcoin.

Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to have invented Bitcoin, has been given a one-year suspended prison sentence for contempt of court.

Read more: COPA vs. Craig Wright Lawsuit Reaches Adverse Ruling For Fake Satoshi

Craig Wright Sentenced for False Bitcoin Claims

The ruling, by Judge James Mellor at London’s High Court, comes after a $1.2 trillion lawsuit Wright filed against Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s payments company, Block. The judge said the lawsuit was a “flagrant breach” of a previous court injunction.

Craig Wright, who gained the spotlight for claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous originator of Bitcoin, alleged he authored the cryptocurrency’s foundational 2008 white paper. However, a series of legal battles has debunked his claims.

In May, Judge Mellor ruled that Wright forged documents and emails to support his claims. The ruling was after the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) moved to block Wright from litigating based on his supposed ownership of Bitcoin intellectual property.

The controversy does not end here. COPA’s previous lawsuit filed against Wright in April was to prevent him from claiming the copyright of Bitcoin’s white paper and database. Testimonies from some big figures in Bitcoin, including Adam Back, who is one of the pioneers of its proof-of-work system, further damaged Wright’s claims.

Judge Dismisses $1.2 Trillion Lawsuit Against Block

With the expectation that Wright’s appeal of the contempt ruling would prolong the legal drama, Judge Mellor dismissed his lawsuit against Block and reinforced his earlier decision that Wright is not Bitcoin’s creator.

During last Thursday’s hearing, Wright appeared remotely but refused to disclose his current location. The judge referred to Wright’s lawsuit as a “publicity stunt” meant to keep devotees loyal to him.

The identity of the real Satoshi Nakamoto has not been revealed yet. According to analysts, Nakamoto might control as many as 1.1 million Bitcoins. Meanwhile, Wright’s actions and repeated legal defeats have drawn sharp criticism, with many in the cryptocurrency community labelling his claims as baseless.