Judge James Mellor said in his written ruling on Monday that Craig Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” in both his written and oral testimony in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance lawsuit about his allegation that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. In March, Mellor came to the conclusion that Wright was not Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, and that he was not the author of the white paper, which served as the cryptocurrency’s foundation.
Mellor’s conclusive remarks after the month-long trial were a reason for joy for the larger crypto business, which has long been the target of Wright’s legal battles with community members despite the possibility of an appeal. “From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Wright was not the one who assumed or used the alias Satoshi Nakamoto.”
Thirdly, the Bitcoin system was not invented by Dr. Wright. Fourth, he is not the creator of the original Bitcoin software, Mellor stated following the testimony of both sides in the trial. In 2021, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which aims to defend the use of cryptocurrency and counteract legal challenges to it, launched a lawsuit against Wright.
COPA accused Wright of forgery and then perjury, and the trial began on February 5. “I am entirely satisfied that Dr Wright lied to the Court extensively and repeatedly,” Mellor claimed. “Most of his lies related to the documents he had forged which purported to support his claim.” COPA, which has the support of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, announced that it will file multiple injunctions to stop Wright from suing Bitcoin developers and claiming to be Nakamoto.
Additionally, it has stated that it might ask British prosecutors to think about charging Wright with perjury for remarks he made during the trial. Mellor put 6 million British pounds ($7.6 million) worth of Wright’s assets under international freezing order in March to prevent him from moving them offshore or avoiding paying the fees associated with the COPA trial. The order said that COPA’s lawsuit costs at the time totaled 6.7 million pounds.