Australian national Craig Wright, who for years falsely claimed to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, has been given a one-year suspended sentence in the United Kingdom for contempt of court.
In a Dec. 19 virtual hearing, Judge James Mellor handed down a sentence to Wright for filing lawsuits against Bitcoin BTC $96,795 developers in violation of a court order. Wright faces 12 months in jail, suspended for two years, after five counts of contempt of court and a £145,000 fine -- roughly $180,000 at the time of publication.
The contempt ruling was part of a case by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which filed a complaint against Wright over breaching a court order to stop filing lawsuits against firms on the basis he was Satoshi. A UK court said in March that Wright was not the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, and he essentially admitted it on his website in July after the ruling.
COPA attorney Jonathan Hough argued Wright had filed lawsuits against more than 100 companies, requesting a total of roughly £900 billion in damages over his Satoshi claims. Hough said in court that Wright's lawsuits were a "desperate publicity stunt to keep his cultish supporters engaged."
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.