UK court slaps Craig Wright with three-year legal restraining order
A UK court has issued Craig Wright with a General Civil Restraint Order (GCRO) that bars the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto from filing any more legal claims in the UK without the High Court’s permission.
That’s according to a judgment from Judge James Mellor released today, which approves applications from the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and Jack Dorsey’s payments firm SquareUp.
The order refers Wright to Richard Hermer, the UK’s Attorney General, who will consider whether he classifies as a “vexatious litigant” and merits an additional Civil Procedure Order (CPO) on top of his GCRO.
Wright was also ordered to pay the £100,000 ($132,000) it cost COPA and SquareUp to file the applications.
Read more: Craig Wright website still shows Satoshi notice despite court order expiring
The GCRO prevents Wright from filing any civil claim with any county court or high court in the UK for three years without prior permission from a high court. The duration of this order can be extended by COPA and SquareUp upon a judge’s approval and notice to Wright.
If he ignores it, he may be in contempt of court and could even face a possible prison sentence.
The CPO, however, applies to any court in the UK and again requires high court permission. It is considered stricter and can only be issued if the Attorney General believes the individual has “habitually, persistently and without reasonable grounds engaged in vexatious proceedings.”
The order is the latest blow to Wright after he failed to convince UK courts last year that he was Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor. In today’s order, Judge Mellor claimed, “In this jurisdiction alone [Wright’s] opponents have had to incur costs of at least £10 million.”
He added, “Dr Wright’s actions have taken up far too much court time and resources already.” In theory, Wright should have less time to spend in UK courts, due to his being somewhere in rural Asia, starting his own pumpkin farm.
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