In a recent move, the United Kingdom High Court has frozen all assets of Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur. The freeze will remain in place until Wright pays off his legal dues amounting to $1.9 million to Peter McCormack, the host of a crypto podcast.
Wright, who proclaims himself as the founder of Bitcoin, initially sued McCormack in 2022 on the grounds of defamation. Wright accused McCormack of damaging his reputation through several social media posts and YouTube videos where the latter called out Wright’s false claims of being Satoshi, the founder of Bitcoin. Although a court recognized the adverse effect on Wright’s reputation, he was awarded just £1 in nominal damages due to his conduct, which included presenting false evidence.
The UK High Court underlined that the defamation case was a facet of Wright’s extensive campaign to silence those denying his claim of being the Bitcoin founder. Justice Mellor wrote, “The Defamation Claim was part of the mendacious overall campaign by Dr. Wright and his backers to establish Dr. Wright as Satoshi Nakamoto.” Citing this, Wright was ordered to cover McCormack’s legal fees, amounting to $1.9 million.
The additional Worldwide Freezing Order (WFO) against Wright, was granted considering his history of evading payment orders. This marks yet another victory for the crypto community against Wright who has over time, consistently taken legal actions against those challenging his claim of being Satoshi.