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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 hearing, Judge James Mellor handed down a sentence to Wright for filing lawsuits against Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>) 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&nbsp;145,000 British pounds fine — roughly $180,000 at the time of publication.<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GS8DmU17E14?start=" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen loading="lazy"></iframe>
The contempt ruling was part of a case by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which filed a complaint against Wright over breaching a July court order to stop filing lawsuits against firms on the basis he was Satoshi. A UK court <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/craig-wright-not-satoshi-nakamoto" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said in March</a> that Wright was not the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, and he essentially <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/craig-wright-admits-not-satoshi-issues-disclaimer-website" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">admitted it on his website</a> 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 British pounds 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.”
<h2 id="who-is-satoshi-nakamoto-if-not-wright">Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, if not Wright?</h2>
Many in the crypto industry have speculated on the true identity of Satoshi — whether an individual or group — since the <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-16-year-anniversary" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Bitcoin white paper was published</a> in 2008. Though some, like Wright, have claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin over the years, Satoshi’s true identity was unknown at the time of publication.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/copa-launch-campaign-fight-blockchain-patent-trolls" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Crypto group COPA launches bid to stop blockchain ‘patent trolls’</a>
Wright <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/court-rejects-craig-wright-appeal-bitcoin-creator-case" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">appealed the March ruling</a> over his Satoshi claims but was denied by the UK Court of Appeal, which said his filing contained “multiple falsehoods.” It’s unclear whether UK authorities will issue an arrest warrant for the computer scientist over the Dec. 19 ruling.
Some of the targets of Wright’s lawsuits have fought back. In July, a UK high court <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/united-kingdom-high-court-freezes-craig-wright-assets" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">froze Wright’s assets</a> in an effort to help podcaster Peter McCormack recoup $1.9 million in legal expenses from one of the defamation lawsuits.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/influencers-breaking-law-shilling-memecoin-scams/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Influencers shilling memecoin scams face severe legal consequences</a>

Craig Wright given suspended one-year sentence for contempt of court

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