Court to sentence Craig Wright for lying about being Satoshi
London’s High Court of Justice, arguably the world’s most powerful copyright court, has reconvened to sentence Craig Wright for his false, perjurious claims to have written Bitcoin’s whitepaper as its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The courtroom was packed to hear final arguments from lawyers representing the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which represents Bitcoin developers and companies.
Today’s arguments aren’t about whether Wright lied — he did — but merely the punishment Wright should receive.
COPA lead attorney Jonathan Hough is obviously asking for a court injunction barring Wright from making any claim in a public forum about being Satoshi Nakamoto.
The alliance also wants the court to categorically deny any remaining legal avenues for Wright to appeal the ruling.
Read more: Judge says Craig Wright ‘not as clever as he thinks he is’
Moreover, COPA wants to escalate the ruling within the UK judiciary from what was essentially a copyright suit to a criminal proceeding. COPA has also asked to include Wright’s once-colleague at nChain, Stefan Matthews, as a criminal defendant for his own perjury.
COPA reminded the judge that Matthews supported Wright with false evidence, even after the court found Matthews’ evidence to be fake.
During today’s hearing, the judge voiced agreement that the court has a responsibility to impose an ‘extraordinary’ sentence on Wright due to his extensive, multi-year campaign to mislead the world about his identity. At a maximum, the court has the ability to put Wright behind bars for years.
Wright’s sentencing hearing has concluded for today, with proceedings due to continue next week.
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