Law360: Bitcoin ‘Inventor’ To Face New Forgery And Fraud Allegations
“A London court on Tuesday granted a Californian nonprofit organization permission to add allegations of forgery, fraud and document-tampering to its existing case, which claims that computer scientist Craig Wright is not the creator of bitcoin.
The High Court ruled that Crypto Open Patent Alliance — an industry body representing cryptocurrency organizations that are challenging Wright’s claims — could amend its case against the Australian computer scientist over his claims to be the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The amendments expand the alliance’s allegations to include claims that Wright has not only lied about creating the digital coin but that he has tampered with the documents to support his claim.
COPA’s updated claim alleges that a digital forensic analysis of documents, which Wright relies on to prove that he is Nakamoto, suggests that the evidence has been altered or tampered with.
“It is also to be inferred that the purpose of these acts was to create documents that would be deployed to prove that Wright is Satoshi,” the alliance states in its amended claim.
Judge Mellor also ruled that COPA could target no more than 50 allegedly altered documents to allay Wright’s lawyer’s concerns that the amendments could add hundreds of forgery allegations just months ahead of trial.
The trial, scheduled to begin on Jan. 15, is the culmination of several spats over how to determine whether Wright is the true inventor of bitcoin.
COPA achieved a partial win in the lead-up to trial earlier in October by successfully arguing that Wright should have to turn over extra evidence — such as documents that demonstrate whether he shared his draft versions of the white paper with any other individuals — before the trial begins.
An alliance spokesperson said that the organization “is pleased that it will have a full opportunity to expose the falsity of Wright’s claims at trial.”