UK Court Imposes Freeze on £6 Million of Craig Wright’s Assets to Ensure Payment of Court Costs

A judge in the UK has intervened to stop Craig Wright from circumventing court orders after a ruling determined that Wright falsely asserted he was the creator of Bitcoin.

The judge has issued a global asset freezing order, effectively halting £6 million ($7.6 million) of Craig Wright’s assets and forbidding him from transferring them abroad, as stated in legal documents submitted on Thursday.

“Yesterday, I granted a worldwide freezing order (‘WFO’) in the amount of £6m, on an application brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (‘COPA’) against Dr. Craig Wright,” Judge James Mellor noted in the document.

Judge Highlights Wright’s History of Defaulting on Payment Orders

This ruling arises from a lawsuit filed by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which contested Wright’s claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin.

In a decision made on March 14, Judge Mellor not only refuted Wright’s claims but also concluded that he did not write the Bitcoin white paper or the early versions of the Bitcoin software.

Shortly after the court’s decision, Wright attempted to transfer shares of his RCJBR Holding company to DeMorgan, a company based in Singapore.

This action raised alarms that Wright was trying to evade the financial repercussions of the court’s ruling, particularly the costs related to the case, which totaled around £6.7 million.

In his judgment, Judge Mellor emphasized Wright’s history of failing to comply with payment orders and expressed genuine concern that Wright might dissipate his assets to avoid fulfilling his financial responsibilities.

The judge recognized COPA’s strong claim for significant costs and determined that there was a considerable risk of asset dissipation.

“After careful consideration of COPA’s cost arguments and attempting to foresee the points that could be raised in response on behalf of Dr. Wright, I concluded that the appropriate amount for the WFO was £6m,” he stated.

Craig Wright is Not Satoshi

The determination that Craig Wright is not Satoshi was made at the end of the closing arguments in the lawsuit filed by COPA against Wright.

COPA, an organization dedicated to fostering the adoption and development of cryptocurrency technologies while eliminating patents as obstacles to growth and innovation, sought injunctive relief to stop Wright from continuing to assert that he is Nakamoto.

“One fact above all is true about cryptocurrency and digital assets, and that fact is this: Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.”

– @iampaulgrewal on ABC News pic.twitter.com/6E3Fqtu8JV

— hodlonaut 80 IQ 13%er (@hodlonaut) March 28, 2024

The case presented numerous allegations of document forgery against Wright, indicating that he had fabricated a considerable amount of evidence to back his claim of being the anonymous Bitcoin founder.

Additionally, COPA’s closing submission asserted that Wright had engaged in extensive deception, highlighting that he had created a complex biographical narrative and produced a series of forged documents to validate his assertions.

The evidence introduced during the trial depicted Wright’s alleged falsehoods on an “extraordinary scale.”

Meanwhile, in another setback for Wright’s assertion that he is the elusive Bitcoin creator, a recent investigation provided evidence suggesting that Nakamoto may actually represent a collective group.

One piece of evidence is the use of both “we” and “I” in the Bitcoin white paper, implying the possibility of a team operating under a single pseudonym.

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