Craig Wright Was Finally Called Out in Court and Hodlonaut Is Celebrating

Craig
S.
Wright
is
a
fraud.
That
is
not
just
my
opinion,
but
that
of
Mr
Justice
Mellor
of
the
U.K.
High
Court,
who
ruled
today
that
the
self-declared
inventor
of
Bitcoin

is
not
as
he
claims.
Over
the
past
five
years,
Wright,
an
Australian
national,
has
wasted
hundreds
of
hours
of
court
time
and
millions
of
dollars
suing
a
number
of
people
who
challenged
his
assertions.

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This
Thursday,
that
ends.
Following
a
two
month-long
trial
brought
by
a
consortium
of
cryptocurrency
companies
called
the
Crypto
Open
Patent
Alliance
(COPA)
on
behalf
of
the
Bitcoin
community,
presiding
Judge
Mellor
has
stated
in
no
uncertain
terms
that

“the
evidence
is
overwhelming”
that
Wright
has
been
lying
for
years.

Wright’s
strategy
was
“definitely
a
perversion
of
the
course
of
justice
and
fraud
on
the
legal
system,”
said
Hodlonaut,
a

pseudonymous
Bitcoiner
with
a
serious
reason
to
celebrate
today’s
verdict.

Hodlonaut,
known
for
his
cartoon
cat
avatar
on
Twitter,
was
sued
by
Wright

five
years
ago
for
libel,
after
tweeting
that
the
53-year-old
computer
scientist
was
a
fraud
and
a
scammer.

See
also:



Stupid
Things
Craig
Wright
Said
in
His
Latest
Stupid
Trial


|
Opinion

That’s
exactly
what
COPA
was
trying
to
prove
by
filing
the
first
offensive
case
against
the
53-year-old
computer
scientist
seeking
a
“negative
declaration”
from
the
U.K.
justice
system
that
Wright
is
not
Nakamoto.
And
they
got
it:
Justice
Mellor,
in
a
highly
unusual
move,
issued
this
verdict
directly
from
the
bench
within
seconds
of
the
case
ending.

It’s
conceivable
that
Mellor
will
now
refer
Wright
for
criminal
proceedings
under
the
Crown
Prosecution
Service
given
the
enormous
amounts
of
money
and
time
the
Satoshi
Nakamoto
pretender
has
cost
the
U.K.
justice
system.
“This
is
not
the
only
case
Craig
has
going
in
the
U.K.,”
Hodlonaut
said,
mentioning
the
suits
against
himself,

podcaster
Peter
McCormack
and
a

group
of
Bitcoin
developers.

Including
the
other
proceedings
involving
Wright’s
claims
over
the
Bitcoin
white
paper,
codebase,
database
rights
and
“Tulip
Trust,”
said
to
hold

110,000
bitcoins

(BTC),
Hodlonaut
estimated
Wright
has
racked
up
upwards
of
50
cases
in
the
U.K.
“They
have
to
set
an
example
on
this
because
it’s
so,
so
extremely
blatant,”
Hodlonaut
said.

COPA,
for
its
part,
said
it
would
refer
Craig
for
criminal
proceedings,
which
might
involve
the
numerous
times
he
perjured
himself.
Justice
Mellor
said
he
would
issue
a
“fairly
lengthy
written
judgment”
of
the
trial
which
saw
Wright
submit
forged
evidence
and
lie
incessantly.
Hodlonaut,
who
appeared
in
court
during
Wright’s
cross-examination,
expects
the
document
to
be
“brutal.”

“It
hasn’t
always
been
easy,
but
I’m
very
happy
that
I
stood
my
ground,”
Hodlonaut
said,
adding
that
he
feels
vindicated
though
not
surprised
by
the
verdict.
“Instead
of
breaking
me
they
ended
up
handing
me
a
chance
to
prove
myself
a
better
person.
I’m
a
stronger
person
now
than
I
was
five
years
ago.”

In
fact,
Hodlonaut’s
defamation
case
in
Norway
contributed
to
COPA’s
winning
argument
—
it
was
mentioned
at
least
41
times
in
COPA’s
closing
argument
and
was
used
as
evidence
throughout
the
trial
to
show
Wright’s
story
has
changed
over
the
years.
The
case,
which

Hodlonaut
won,
is

being
appealed
but,
after
today’s
verdict,
may
now
be
thrown
out.

“We’ll
see,”
Hodlonaut
said.
He
estimated
he
has
spent
on
the
order
of
$3
million
in
legal
fees
fighting
off
Wright’s
libel
suits
in
the
U.K.
and
his
native
Norway,
some
out
of
pocket
but
most
funded
by
the
Bitcoin
community.
“It’s
been
going
on
for
five
years
now
—
that’s
five
years
where
I’ve
spent
basically
a
full-time
job
defending
myself,”
he
added.
That’s
on
top
of
his
actual
job
at
The
Bitcoin
Advisor
custody
and
security
firm.

In
many
regards,
these
cases
should
never
have
been
allowed.
The
judge
overseeing
Hodlonaut’s
trial
noted
“The

prevailing
opinion
…
has
been,
and
is,
that
Wright
is
unlikely
to
be
Satoshi
Nakamoto,”
and
that
Hodlonaut
“had
sufficient
factual
grounds”
to
criticize
Wright.
While
McCormack’s
judge
said
Wright
had
given
“deliberately
false
evidence”
—
though
still
awarded
him
“nominal
damages”
of
£1.

Hodlonaut
suggested
Wright’s
legal
campaign
was
an
attempt
to
“a
precedent
in
the
legal
system”
he
could
rely
on,
alongside
patent
filings,
to
show
he
was
Satoshi
because
he
didn’t
have
any
actual
evidence.
“I
mean,
the
only
‘out’
they
gave
me
was
for
me
to
apologize
and
agree
that
he
is
definitely
Satoshi
Nakamoto
—
the
problem
for
them
was
that
people
didn’t
fold,”
he
said.

Wright
has
his
supporters
—
including
investors
in
his
fork
of
Bitcoin,
known
as
Bitcoin
SV
(for
“Satoshi’s
Vision),
and
billionaire
benefactor
Calvin
Ayre.
But
it’s
long
been
apparent
to
everyone
else
that
Wright
was
lying
since
he
burst
on
the
scene
with
circumstantial
or

fraudulent
evidence
trying
to
pass
himself
off
as
Satoshi
Nakamoto,
the
still
unknown
inventor
of
Bitcoin.

Despite
promising
to
give

“extraordinary
proof
to
an
extraordinary
claim,”
Wright
has
been
unable
to
provide
any
evidence
he
authored
the
Bitcoin
white
paper
or
holds
Satoshi’s
keys.
Instead,
over
the
years
his
lies
have
compounded,
which
allowed
COPA
to
arm
itself
with
countless
examples
of
his
“forgery
on
an
industrial
scale”
with
which
to
ensnare
him.

To
list
just
a
few
examples
that
came
up
at
trial:
the
original
white
paper
was
produced
using
OpenOffice
while
Wright’s
version
submitted
to
evidence
used
LaTeX
software;
a
pre-white
paper
document
contained
references
to
then-unpublished
scholarly
articles
because,
as
Wright
claims,
“researchers
share”
pre-publication;
another
document
showed
hallmarks
of
being
made
with
ChatGPT.

See
also:



Time
to
End
Craig
Wright’s
Harassment
Campaign

“If
I
had
forged
that
document,
then
it
would
be
perfect,”
Wright
said
at
one
point
on
cross-examination,
addressing
concerns
of
another
forgery.
If
anything,
this
single
statement
encapsulates
exactly
how
deranged
Wright’s
perspective
is
—
not
only
is
he
a
habitual
liar,
but
he
thinks
himself
god’s
gift
to
man.

It
could
almost
be
funny
hearing
someone
perjure
themselves
in
court
just
to
pretend
that
they
spend
their
lunch
breaks
writing
patents
and
studying
for
two
PhDs.
But,
given
the
untold
damage
he
has
caused,
it’s
hard
to
have
any
sympathy
for
Wright.

Despite
it
all,
Hodlonaut
said
he
doesn’t
hate
Wright,
though
he
does
find
“some
satisfaction
in
seeing
karma”
coming
full
circle.
“What
brought
me
through
all
of
this
was
being
able
to
focus
on
what’s
in
my
control,
not
what
other
people
are
scheming,”
he
said.
The
support
he
got
from
the
Bitcoin
community
also
helped.

That
said,
if
his
appeals
case
is
dismissed,
in
addition
to
spending
more
time
with
his
family
and
working
more
as
an
advisor
for
his
firm,
Hodlonaut
said
there
may
be
an
“opportunity
to
go
on
the
offensive.”

“There
are
many
people
in
this
space
that
may
have
some
consequences
coming
to
them,”
Hodlonaut
said.