- IT security consultant Craig Wright has been ordered to pay £225,000 in legal costs following an unsuccessful appeal asserting his claim as Bitcoin’s creator
- The court criticized Wright for “improperly using AI” in his legal submissions, which risked misleading the judiciary
- Previous rulings have determined that Dr. Wright’s claims to be Bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, were based on falsified evidence
Infamous Satoshi Nakamoto fraudster Craig Wright has been ordered by the UK High Court to pay £225,000 ($290,000) in legal costs after his appeal asserting himself as Bitcoin’s creator was dismissed. The court found that Wright had “improperly used AI” in his legal submissions, most notably citing non-existent caselaw, which could have potentially misled the judiciary. Wright was found to be one of the most prolific evidence forgers in British legal history in 2024 when the judge in the COPA vs Wright case found that he forged over 500 pieces of evidence for the trial.
History of Forgery and Fabulism
Wright has been embroiled in legal battles concerning his assertion that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive creator of Bitcoin, since 2019. Having unsuccessfully sued various individuals and entities for libel, passing off, copyright infringement and more, Wright finally came unstuck in 2021 when the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a consortium of cryptocurrency firms, challenged his claims, forcing him to prove them once and for all.
In May 2024, the High Court found that Wright’s assertion was based on falsified documents and untruthful testimony, with Justice Mellor describing his evidence as “technobabble” and accusing Wright of forgery “on a grand scale.”
Misuse of AI in Legal Proceedings
Following the May 2024 ruling, Wright sought permission to appeal the decision, but this was rejected due to the scale of his forgery and the clear-cut nature of the verdict. Wright’s appeal also contained dozens of URLs he had attempted to use as evidence of news stories to support his case, but none of them existed. He also cited multiple instances of caselaw to back up his appeal grounds, but these were either erroneous or, again, didn’t exist.
In a ruling handed down yesterday, Lord Justice Arnold listed the reasons why he was awarding costs to COPA and the Bitcoin developers who were also part of the case:
First, Dr Wright’s applications for permission to appeal were wholly without merit. Secondly, Dr Wright’s applications for permission to adduce further evidence had no merit even if they did not quite reach the “wholly without” level. Thirdly, the volume and complexity of Dr Wright’s documents was exceptional, wholly unnecessary, and wholly disproportionate. This was compounded by the fact that many of them were refiled repeatedly in different
versions.
Lord Justice Arnold also adduced that Wright there was reason to believe that Wright “pursued his applications in part for ulterior motives, and in particular in support of his publicity campaign.” This sentiment echoes previous judgments where Wright was described as a “self-overestimated clever person” and an “extremely slippery witness” who had lied extensively to the court.
Wright Lands $290,000 Bill
As a consequence of his unsuccessful appeals and the improper use of AI, Wright has been ordered to pay £100,000 ($129,000) towards COPA’s legal costs and an additional £125,000 ($161,000) to the Bitcoin developers.
It is well known that Wright was financially supported in his Satoshi venture by online gambling impresario Calvin Ayre until September 2023, when he ditched Wright after eight years of support, leaving Wright to foot his legal bills through other means. It is believed that Wright has done this by selling shares in nChain, the blockchain company he was part of until his firing in September 2023.
Wright fled to Asia shortly after the COPA verdict, failing to attend a contempt of court hearing in December, where he was handed a suspended sentence after breaching the injunction set down following the verdict.
Wright’s legal troubles are not over, however; a hearing takes place today at the UK High Court where Wright could be handed a Civil Restraint Order (CRO), which could see Wright imprisoned were he to begin court proceedings in the UK.
