The case of Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be the creator of bitcoin, has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service over a potential prosecution for perjury and forgery.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” Mellor said at the time, “that Dr Wright is not the author of the bitcoin white paper.” In the written judgment that followed, Mellor said that Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” in written and oral evidence. “Most of his lies related to the documents he had forged which purported to support his claim … Dr Wright’s attempts to prove he was/is Satoshi Nakamoto represent a most serious abuse of this court’s process.”

Wright’s written evidence was called out as a potential forgery before the trial even opened, and his own expert witnesses appeared to concur. In cross-examination, Wright dismissed the allegations, and claimed his expert witness was not suitably qualified. “If I had forged that document then it would be perfect,” he said at one point.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Mellor said he will refer “relevant” papers in the legal action to the CPS to consider whether criminal charges should be brought against Wright.

    • EpeeGnome@lemm.ee
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      4 个月前

      As an American that confusion is the entire reason I opened the article. Then I saw “Australia” and “Crown Prosecution Service” and stopped being confused.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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      4 个月前

      Honestly, he should be referred to both. For someone to pursue a lie this long, with basically no one else believing him, takes a special kind of immaturity and stubbornness we normally reserve for politicians.

  • prole
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    4 个月前

    Wright’s written evidence was called out as a potential forgery before the trial even opened, and his own expert witnesses appeared to concur. In cross-examination, Wright dismissed the allegations, and claimed his expert witness was not suitably qualified. “If I had forged that document then it would be perfect,” he said at one point.

    Hahahaha

    • Clent@lemmy.world
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      4 个月前

      I’m not sure which is funnier, that he is disparaging his own expert witness or that he admits to have excellent forgery skills.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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      4 个月前

      ‘How can it be bad for me if I did it? Checkmate!’ is becoming my favorite self-own. Same energy as ‘If the documents were damning, why wouldn’t I commit a felony by destroying them?’

  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
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    4 个月前

    None of this had to happen. The legal system could have just said, okay, if you are Satoshi, sign a message with the key used by Satoshi. And if he was able to do so, he would have guaranteed to be Satoshi, or at least hacked Satoshi.

  • WamGams@lemmy.ca
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    4 个月前

    A part of me wishes Nick Szabo would just admit to it already (point blank, not accidentally do so then try and backtrack).