A British judge has ordered Craig Wright's assets worth $7.6 million (£6 million) worldwide to be frozen after it was discovered he was falsely claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin.
THE order comes after Wright's decisive loss in a landmark lawsuit against the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). Earlier in March, Justice James Mellor governed that Wright did not author the Bitcoin white paper, create Bitcoin, or develop its early software, thus debunking his long-standing claims to the contrary.
Now, Mellor has granted COPA's request for a worldwide freezing injunction to prevent Wright from dissipating his assets and escaping costs related to the deal. The British judge found that Wright's recent transfer of shares to a foreign company “raised serious concerns” about his intentions to avoid the impending costs order.
Justice Mellor quotes the judgment on the freezing order:
“This necessarily means (as I will explain in my trial judgment) that Dr Wright falsified documents on a large scale and that, under cross-examination, he lied profusely and repeatedly.”
“Dr. Wright showed up… pic.twitter.com/BBIlIuZNG6
— hodlonaut 80 IQ 13%er 🌮⚡🔑 🐝 (@hodlonaut) March 28, 2024
Wright must now disclose all assets worth more than $30,000 and is prohibited from reducing his holdings below $7.6 million. The freeze reflects lingering doubts about Wright's reliability, given his history of flouting court judgments and his boast of being “judgment-proof.”
The new freezing injunction further hampers Wright's ability to pursue other Satoshi Nakamoto-related litigation. It also ensures that assets will remain available to cover the multimillion-dollar costs that COPA hopes to recoup after debunking Wright's wild claims.
The British judge's actions to freeze Wright's assets appear justified in light of his dishonest behavior. The saga underscores the need for courts to use tools that prevent litigants like Wright from abusing the legal system and evading accountability.