A British judge has ordered Craig Wright's assets worldwide to be frozen worth $7.6m (£6m) after finding he had falsely claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin.
The order comes after Wright's decisive loss in a landmark lawsuit against the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA). Earlier in March, Judge James Mellor ruled that Wright did not author a Bitcoin white paper, create Bitcoin, or develop its early software, debunking his long-standing claims to the contrary.
Now, Mellor has granted COPA's request for a global freezing order to prevent Wright from dissipating assets and evading costs related to the case. The British judge found that Wright's recent transfer of shares to an offshore company “raised serious concerns” about his intentions to avoid an impending costs order.
Judge Mellor quotes from the freezing order judgment:
“This necessarily means (as I will explain in my preliminary ruling) that Dr. Wright extensively falsified documents and, during his interrogation, lied extensively and repeatedly.”
“Dr. Wright has shown himself… pic.twitter.com/BBIlIuZNG6
— hodlonaut 80 IQ 13% 🌮⚡🔑 🐝 (@hodlonaut) March 28, 2024
Wright must now disclose all assets worth more than $30,000 and is prohibited from reducing his estate below $7.6 million. The suspension reflects continuing doubts about Wright's credibility, given his history of failure to implement court rulings and his boast of being “proof of judgment.”
The new freezing order hinders Wright's ability to pursue additional lawsuits related to Satoshi Nakamoto. It also ensures assets remain available to cover the multi-million dollar cost bill that COPA expects to recover after Wright's outlandish assertions were debunked.
The British judge's actions to freeze Wright's assets appear justified in light of his dishonest behavior. This saga highlights the need for courts to use tools that prevent litigants like Wright from abusing the legal system and evading accountability.
