Craig Wright Convicted For Repeatedly Lying About Inventing Bitcoin 24
Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist living in the UK, has been found guilty of contempt of court for persistently and falsely claiming to be Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, despite a High Court ruling against his claim. He has been sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and faces jail if he continues his assertions. The BBC reports: [...] Wright, who appeared via videolink, refused to disclose where he was, saying only he was in Asia. It means an international arrest warrant would have to be issued if the UK authorities wanted to detain him.
Wright's actions were described in court as "legal terrorism" that "put people through personal hell" in his campaign to be recognised as Bitcoin's inventor. The judge, Mr Justice Mellor, said Wright arguments were "legal nonsense" but acknowledged that he was not in the UK and "appears to be well aware of countries with which the UK does not have extradition arrangements".
Wright's actions were described in court as "legal terrorism" that "put people through personal hell" in his campaign to be recognised as Bitcoin's inventor. The judge, Mr Justice Mellor, said Wright arguments were "legal nonsense" but acknowledged that he was not in the UK and "appears to be well aware of countries with which the UK does not have extradition arrangements".
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Do you keep this in your paste buffer so it will be ready to post whenever a crypto story comes up?
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Black Parrot writes
Re:The grand master plan of crypto
Do you keep this in your paste buffer so it will be ready to post whenever a crypto story comes up?
Anonymous Coward replies
I keep it stored on the blockchain.
I assume this refers to the oft-posted rant that begins:
Somehow, that original post did not appear *at all* for me, not even as a "hidden" post. Just the annoyed reply shows up. But anyway, the reply-to-the-reply, above, should be modded Funny, not downmodded into oblivion. Someone.
(None of this was me, btw, but the reason I can so readily quote it is because I bought it as an NFT....)
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There was no evil genius plan, that's not how reality works. There was a simple plan that mostly went wrong.
This belief in some super-genius evil plan is paranoid. Nobody can predict the world with enough accuracy to pull that off.
The Ayyadurai of Bitcoin (Score:1)
"I invented Bitcoin." "When I was 14." "I even got a trademark for it: BITCOIN (sorry, caps-lock button had gum on it.)
No need to be in Asia to avoid UK jail (term suspended for 2 years so he's not about to be nicked.)
Just come to the US and run for Congress.
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Shiva, I had no idea you were on Slashdot. Can't wait for your next site, inventorofbitcoin.com . Maybe you can get an actress to marry you again.
About bloody time (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:About bloody time (Score:4, Interesting)
A campaigning organisation obtained an injunction to make him stop claiming to be Satoshi. He's just been ruled to have broken the injunction.
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campaigning organisation
What does that mean exactly. Campaigning for what? Political campaigning?
I think the GP means the Crypto Open Patent Alliance. From TFA:
[Craig Wright's] actions prompted a coalition of industry companies - the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) - to force a high court trial this year to prevent him from carrying out any further legal cases.
A judge ruled in their favour saying Wright had "lied extensively" to support his false claim.
Re:About bloody time (Score:5, Informative)
Except that Craig Wright defied a court order to shut up, so not just a civil issue.
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A judge ruled in their favour saying Wright had "lied extensively" to support his false claim.
Does Trump know about him? Or would he need a underage sex conviction as well to qualify for an appointment?
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Your allowed to lie, in general, with two , sometimes three, exception.
1) Your not allowed to defame people. Thats a Civil offense (in some countries it can be a criminal one, but usually just dealt with Civilly, ie lawsuit)
2) Your not allowed to lie to obtain material advantage. Thats a Criminal offense , Fraud. Oftren its also Civil (Ie your committing a crime, AND you can be sued)
3) In most countries you really cant go harming others with lies, Ie convincing them to not get cancer treatment by claiming d
Re: About bloody time (Score:1)
(5) Making false statements to a public official in the execution of their duties
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Serious question...why is this illegal. Unethical to be sure, but illegal?
Presumably because Mr. Wright couldn't afford a good enough lawyer. IIRC, SCO claimed to own parts of Linux for a very long time and they attempted to use the courts to collect a rather absurdly large amount of money that they believed they were owed. This charade continued until SCO ran out of money.
I'd also venture a guess that it probably helps to have the protection of a corporate veil when you're being a giant litigious dick, too. A great example of this is the massive amount of court time wasted by
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Not to be pedantic, but the burden of proof is on the accuser. At least that's how things are supposed to be in the US. The UK has gone down the batshit crazy legal rabbit hole lately so who knows. Point being, doesn't the prosecution have to prove that he didn't create bitcoin? That would mean that they know who did.
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A two year suspended sentence for trying to defraud billions seems too light to me.
" I'm Spartacus " (Score:2)
He should be crucified with the rest of them on the road to Rome