UK High Court, Chancery Division · 2024 · Fabrication
COPA v. Wright
[2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch); contempt [2024] EWHC 3315 (Ch)
What happened
Craig Wright claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, and produced extensive documentation to support that claim across multiple proceedings. Forensic analysis by the court-appointed expert and opposing counsel identified 47 separate forgeries in Wright's evidentiary bundle. Key failures included metadata timestamps that postdated the purported 2008 creation date, LaTeX typesetting packages not released until after 2008, and font versions that did not exist when the documents were claimed to have been created. The court found that Wright had systematically produced false documents in furtherance of a calculated and dishonest litigation strategy. A declaration was issued that Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto. The judgment also resulted in referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service for perjury, and a subsequent contempt judgment followed as Wright continued to disobey court orders. The case is one of the most comprehensive judicial findings of digital document fabrication in UK legal history.
“The documents produced by Dr Wright… contain anachronistic features, inconsistent metadata, fonts and typesetting from later years. I find that he has engaged in the deliberate production of false documents.”
From the judgment
Outcome
Wright declared not Satoshi Nakamoto. Worldwide anti-suit injunction granted. Referrals to CPS for perjury. Later contempt findings.
Sources
Public proof. Private work.
immut records a cryptographic hash of your file on the public XRP Ledger at the moment of creation. The timestamp is independently verifiable by anyone.
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