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Craig Wright was yesterday accused of repeated perjury and forging documents “on a grand scale” during the recent COPA vs. Wright trial
In a 320-page written ruling, Wright’s behavior and credibility were eviscerated by Justice Mellor
COPA had asked for an injunction to stop Wright from litigating on the basis that he was Satoshi Nakamoto
Craig Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” to the Court in the recent COPA vs. Wright trial, according to the judge. Justice Mellor handed down his much anticipated written ruling yesterday, two months after a verbal ruling that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto following a decade-long campaign. The 320-page ruling, which was accompanied by a 150-page appendix, excoriated Wright over his perpetual lies and forging of evidence in the case, with criminal charges almost a certainty. Wright, however, has said he will appeal.
Ruling Arrives On Book Launch Day
Wright’s battle with the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) was billed as Wright’s ‘all-or-nothing’ attempt to get himself anointed as Satoshi Nakamoto, with the outcome affecting multiple other lawsuits Wright has filed since 2019. Justice Mellor stunned everyone when he ruled at the end of the trial in March that the evidence that Wright wasn’t Satoshi Nakamoto was “overwhelming,” which he would detail in a written judgment.
That judgment came yesterday, the day of the release of a book charting Wright’s supposed creation of Bitcoin, and the result couldn’t have been more scathing. Central to the court’s decision was the assessment of Dr. Wright’s credibility. Justice Mellor stated unequivocally that “in both his written evidence and in days of oral evidence under cross-examination, I am entirely satisfied that Dr. Wright lied to the Court extensively and repeatedly. Most of his lies related to the documents he had forged which purported to support his claim.”
Justice Mellor also found, crucially, that Wright’s knowledge of Bitcoin did not exceed what could be gleaned from publicly available information, noting, “In my judgment, in none of his evidence did he reveal any insight or knowledge unique to Satoshi.” This backs up Wright’s critics’ claims that he has simply learned a lot about Bitcoin over the years from reading up on it.
Wright Undone by “Clumsy” Forgeries
The judgment also highlighted the court’s assessment of the quality of the forged documents presented by Wright, with Justice Mellor calling the forgeries submitted as evidence “clumsy” and noting that Wright introduced false evidence not just before the case but during it, in order to try and exculpate himself from a rabbit warren of lies.
Allied to this, Justice Mellor stated that, “As soon as one lie was exposed, Dr. Wright resorted to further lies and evasions,” with the judge describing a pattern of evasive behavior and escalating falsehoods as Wright’s claims were systematically dismantled.
Justice Mellor was particularly critical of Wright’s use of complex technical language to obfuscate the truth, referring to it as “technobabble,” highlighting how Wright attempted to confuse and mislead through the use of jargon, frequently using technicalities that were either incorrect assumptions of bare-faced lies constructed to sound like he knew what he was talking about.
Witnesses Lied to Bolster Wright’s Case
A significant portion of the judgment focused on the forensic analysis of documents Wright presented as evidence. These documents were found to have numerous inconsistencies, including manipulated timestamps and questionable origins. Expert testimony established that many documents had been created or modified long after the dates they purported to bear, with Justice Mellor making the level of fraud clear:
To the extent that it is said there is evidence supporting his claim, it is at best questionable or of very dubious relevance or entirely circumstantial and at worst, it is fabricated and/or based on documents I am satisfied have been forged on a grand scale by Dr Wright.
Justice Mellor was also scathing over Wright’s witnesses, concluding that they lied or added nothing of value to Wright’s case, with none able to verify his claim that he created Bitcoin. Indeed, one witness was even accused of being fed lines to bring up during his testimony:
…the natural inference to be drawn from this sequence of events is that Mr Jenkins had been primed by Dr Wright to bring up a “Timecoin” White Paper, something he had not mentioned in his witness statement in these proceedings…
Justice Mellor also ruled that one of Wright’s staunchest allies, Stefan Matthews, lied on the stand over his claim that Wright handed him a copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008.
The judgment concludes with a firm declaration that Dr. Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin White Paper, not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto between 2008 and 2011, not the person who created the Bitcoin system, and not the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin Software.
Form of Order Hearing to Decide Wright’s Fate
Wright’s punishment, which will come in the form of an injunction, will be decided at a later hearing, where criminal prosecution is almost a certainty. Wright is currently believed to be in Asia, although his exact whereabouts are unknown.
Wright has already abandoned all the other cases that were affected by this ruling, including the lawsuits against Coinbase and Kraken as well as a collection of Bitcoin developers, and the two libel suits against Hodlonaut, one of which he already lost. Wright has, however, said he will appeal Justice Mellor’s verdict:
I fully intend to appeal the decision of the court on the matter of the identity issue. I would like to acknowledge and thank all my supporters for their unwavering encouragement and support. In the meantime, I shall continue to work closely with the Teranode team to achieve…
— Dr Craig S Wright (@Dr_CSWright) May 20, 2024
The verdict should bring the curtain down on Wright’s ten-year multi-million-dollar effort to be named as Bitcoin’s creator, although his core of supporters still believe him, claiming that Justice Mellor was corrupt and was paid off by those whose interests align with COPA members.
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