Thomas Daniels
In a landmark decision, a U.K. High Court judge determined that American computer scientist Craig Wright committed perjury and forgery during the high-profile COPA v. Wright trial. Justice James Mellor’s written judgment, published on Monday, reveals that Wright engaged in deliberate deceit in his claims of being Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Justice Mellor’s assessment concluded that Wright falsified documents to support his assertions, using the court to perpetrate fraud. “It is clear that Dr. Wright engaged in the deliberate production of false documents to support false claims and use the Courts as a vehicle for fraud,” Mellor wrote. “I am entirely satisfied that Dr. Wright lied to the Court extensively and repeatedly. All his lies and forged documents were in support of his biggest lie: his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto.”
Mellor had previously ruled in March that Wright was not Nakamoto and had no hand in authoring Bitcoin’s foundational white paper. He commented, “Dr Wright presents himself as an extremely clever person. However, in my judgment, he is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is.”
The Legal Battle with COPA
Wright has long claimed to be the mastermind behind Bitcoin, a claim met with significant skepticism and controversy. This assertion led to a legal clash with the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a significant entity in the cryptocurrency sector. COPA filed a lawsuit against Wright in 2021, accusing him of forgery and perjury. The trial commenced on February 5 and spanned six weeks.
Although Wright has yet to respond publicly to Mellor’s statements, he expressed his intent to appeal the decision on social media, stating, “I fully intend to appeal the decision of the court on the matter of the identity issue.”
Implications of the Ruling
This ruling carries substantial implications for the cryptocurrency industry, reaffirming Bitcoin’s decentralized and leaderless nature and ensuring that no single individual can claim its origins. The court’s decision addresses one of the most contentious and publicized claims about Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity.
The legal consequences of Wright’s perjury are yet to be fully realized, but $7.6 million of his assets were frozen in March to prevent him from moving them offshore to evade the case’s costs. Wright attempted to settle the dispute with COPA out of court in January, but COPA declined the offer.
