Judge in Britain’s High Court has ordered prosecutors to consider bringing criminal charges against computer scientist Craig Wright, after ruling that he lied “in a widespread and repeated manner” and committed forgery “on a large scale” in a bid to prove he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.
In a judgment published on Tuesday, Judge James Mellor outlined the various orders to be imposed on Wright after finding in May that he had “willfully produced false documents in support of false claims” [to be Satoshi] and utilize the courts as a tool for fraud.”
Under the judge’s order, Wright will be prohibited from publicly claiming to be Satoshi, or from taking or threatening legal action in any jurisdiction on that basis. He will be required to post details of the findings against him on the home page of his personal website and on the X channel.
The case, Mellor writes, will also be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the UK’s criminal prosecution agency, “to consider whether to bring criminal proceedings against Dr Wright”. The CPS will have to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Wright “for his large-scale perjury and forgery” and “whether a warrant should be issued for his arrest”.
Wright did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest ruling follows a six-week trial held earlier this year to resolve a civil lawsuit filed by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a nonprofit consortium of cryptocurrency companies, against Wright. The organization asked the court to declare that Wright is not the creator of Bitcoin, preventing him from continuing to many separate lawsuits against the creators of Bitcoin and other parties based on this claim.
Under grueling cross-examination, Wright was presented with documents containing hundreds of alleged signs of forgery. Wright wove a mosaic of justifications to explain the irregularities, but he failed to convince the judge. On March 14, the final day of the trial, Mellor delivered a uncommon, swift verdict: “The evidence is overwhelming,” he told the court. “Dr. Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.”
In a formal written judgment on May 20, Mellor expanded on the reasoning behind his verdict, confirming that Wright had lied about creating Bitcoin and had falsified documents in order to advance that lie. “I am absolutely convinced that Dr. Wright lied to the Court repeatedly and extensively. All of his lies and falsified documents were in support of his greatest lie: his claim that he is Satoshi Nakamoto,” Mellor wrote.
In his latest ruling, Mellor stressed what he saw as the importance of blocking any remaining avenues by which Wright might attempt to re-establish his claim to be Satoshi. “Dr. Wright’s sinister and deceitful campaign to establish himself as Satoshi over many years, involving lies and falsehoods on a wide scale, requires an extraordinary response,” he wrote.