Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor faces contempt of court case over $1.2 billion UK lawsuit

LONDON (Reuters) – An Australian computer scientist who claimed he invented bitcoin was on Friday accused of contempt of court after he filed a 911 million-pound ($1.18 billion) lawsuit against Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s payments firm Block in Britain.

Craig Wright claimed to have been the author of the foundational text of bitcoin published under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto”. But a court found that there was “overwhelming evidence” that Wright did not write the 2008 text.

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance took legal action against Wright to stop him suing bitcoin developers. After a trial at London’s High Court, a judge said in a written ruling in May that Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” and forged documents “on a grand scale”.

The judge in July referred Wright to Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether he should be prosecuted for perjury. He also made an injunction preventing Wright from bringing any litigation on the basis of his claim to be Satoshi.

Wright is appealing against the ruling and a decision on whether he can bring an appeal has not yet been made. He denied forging documents when he gave evidence in February.

COPA’s lawyer Jonathan Hough said at a preliminary hearing on Friday that Wright was in breach of the injunction having filed a lawsuit against Square Up Europe Limited, which is ultimately owned by Block, earlier this month.

Wright was not legally represented and appeared at the hearing by videolink from Singapore, Hough said.

“I do not believe I am in contempt,” Wright said. He added that, if he was found to be in contempt of court, he was willing to amend his lawsuit to make clear the case had “nothing to do with the ownership of the creation of the system”.

A hearing to determine whether Wright is in contempt will be heard in December. Wright’s lawsuit against Block was put on hold in the meantime.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Ros Russell)