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- 1 UK Judge Mellor orders Craig Wright to pay $516 thousand in advance as security.
- 2 The Judge raised doubts about Wright’s ability to foot the bill
In an interesting twist, England and Wales High Court Judge Mellor ordered Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin founder, to pay an advance of $516k for the security of the legal costs.
Last year, Craig Wright, through his investment company Tulip Trading, sued crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken on the grounds of alleged infringement of his intellectual property rights associated with the name ‘Bitcoin.’
Wright alleged that the exchanges are damaging the brand of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) by continuing the trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
The self-declared ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ must first provide a $516k collateral as security for the defendant’s legal expenditures if the case fails to go his way.
Wright’s financial liquidity questioned
While rendering the judgment, Judge Mellor highlighted an instance in which Wright boasted of his ‘financial invisibility’ by moving assets through trusts.
Craig wrote on his Slack channel “that at one point when he was ‘unable to keep paying lawyers, auditors and accountants’ he intentionally ‘started moving assets back into Tulip Trading and other companies.’”
However, Justice Mellor questioned Wright’s ability to foot the legal costs, arguing that there is no evidence that Tulips Trading has sufficient liquidity to settle the legal fees.
Judge Mellor also cited some discrepancies in Craig’s past statements concerning his financial health and that of the Tulip Trust. As such, Judge Mellor questioned whether Wright or his investment firm could bear the legal costs of this case.
Mellor also noted that if Wright and Tulip fail to provide the security deposit, the court will dismiss his case in a few weeks.
Legal setbacks piling up for Wright
In the wake of the Kraken-Coinbase suit loss, Mr Wright faced yet another legal loss in the appeal for a Bitcoin libel case against Peter McCormack. The court upheld the original decision that while McCormack’s comments were defamatory, Wright failed to provide evidence to back his claims and deliberately presented false evidence instead.
As such, as passed in the original judgment, Peter McCormack must only pay a fine of 1 British pound ($1.29) as compensation.
Wayne is a part-time trader with a fine eye for detail. Over the years, he has developed an intriguing interest in blockchain technology and enjoys writing about cryptocurrencies.
