LONDON — Craig Wright Bitcoinwas referred to British prosecutors on Tuesday on suspicion of perjury.
On Tuesday, UK High Court Judge James Mellor decided to refer the case against Wright’s claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin to the Crown Prosecution Service, the body that prosecutes criminal cases investigated by police in England and Wales.
The CPS will now consider whether to charge Wright with what Mr Mellor called “complete perjury and forgery” and will decide whether an arrest warrant and extradition are required.
Wright has remained largely silent since a high court ruling found he lied “extensively and repeatedly” in testimony attempting to prove he was Bitcoin’s inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Wright tried to prove in court in London that he was the inventor of Bitcoin and that he holds the intellectual property rights, including the copyright to the Bitcoin whitepaper and early versions of the Bitcoin software. The Bitcoin protocol is a decentralized, open-source network, meaning no single organization has control over it.
Judge Mellor ruled that Wright had attempted to create a false narrative by forging documents “on a massive scale” and introducing them as evidence in court.
He added that Wright had committed a “very serious abuse” of the court process by claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto through legal actions in the UK, Norway and the US.
Wright’s official website, which had its content removed immediately following Judge Mellor’s ruling, posted a legal notice on Tuesday stating that “Dr. Craig Steven Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.”
The notice reiterates the ruling that Wright is not the inventor of Bitcoin and orders him not to commence any legal proceedings based on false claims (or counterclaims) and not to threaten any such proceedings.
Wright’s holding company, Tulip Trading, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
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