- Satoshi fraudster Craig Wright could be sentenced to prison today over contempt of court charges
- Wright failed to appear to defend himself in court, claiming he couldn’t afford to
- The Australian could face up to two years, although he will be convicted in absentia
Craig Wright, the man who attempted to fool the British courts into anointing him Satoshi Nakamoto, faces a prison sentence today after failing to turn up for a contempt of court hearing. Wright, who lost his case against the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), was due to attend the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London over an alleged breach of the COPA injunction but informed the court just minutes before it was due to start that he could not afford the plane fare or leave his work commitments. Wright, who fled the UK following his defeat, now lives in Asia and so will not serve any sentence handed down, although he will be prevented from re-entering the UK.
No-show Wright Asked for $305,000 to Attend
Wright’s contempt of court action has sprung from a trillion-dollar passing-off case he has brought against around 122 individuals and entities he claims are involved in a conspiracy against his vehicle, BSV. Unfortunately for Wright, some of the claims he made in the case contravened the injunction with which he was hit following the COPA case, namely that he was the creator of Bitcoin; while allowed to maintain this in public, he is not allowed to litigate on that basis.
Wright was ordered to attend a hearing today and tomorrow to argue why he shouldn’t be held in contempt, but he failed to show, emailing the court as proceedings were about to begin to claim that he didn’t have the means to travel to the UK. When COPA offered to pay to allow him to attend, Wright refused, saying that it would cost them £240,000 ($305,000) for six months’ lost work despite the trial being only two days in length. This rather undermined his claim of penury and didn’t help his cause one iota.
Wright Will be Banned From the UK
The trial proceeded in Wright’s absence, with COPA’s barrister putting COPA’s points to the judge, Justice Mellor, over why Wright should be held in contempt. With Wright unable to rebuff any arguments, the court will reconvene today, where Justice Mellor will give his verdict and any sentence he decides to impose. This will almost certainly see Craig Wright sentenced to prison for contempt of court, with COPA pushing for between 18 months and two years, although how much extra Justice Mellor will add for Wright’s no-show remains to be seen.
Wright also faces potential charges for the hundreds of forged documents and perjury regarding the COPA v Wright case, which the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service will decide on next year. If Wright is sentenced as expected he will not be able to return to the UK without getting arrested, meaning he cannot come back to the country he called home for nine years. The same goes for his home country of Australia, which Wright has not returned to since leaving in 2015 following an investigation into his tax affairs.
