Craig Wright has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence by a UK judge after he was found guilty of criminal contempt of court following accusations from the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA).

Wright was found guilty of criminal contempt of court on five separate grounds and will be arrested and imprisoned if he commits another offense in the UK. He has also been ordered to pay £144,000 ($180,000) to cover COPA’s legal costs.

Wright attended today’s hearing virtually and claimed that he would appeal the verdict. 

Today’s decision followed yesterday’s hearing where lawyers representing COPA argued that he had breached his injunctions on multiple occasions after filing a lawsuit against Jack Dorsey’s Square Up and BTC Core. 

Read more: Craig Wright skips UK court hearing, COPA wants him in prison

Wright also failed to attend yesterday’s hearing in person, despite orders from Judge Mr. Justice Mellor, potentially committing another act of contempt of court.

Mellor said today that Wright relied on “promissory estoppel,” to avoid attendance and that he found “each ground for contempt proved beyond all reasonable doubt.”

The judge concluded that, “[Wright] has expressed no remorse today,” and that “promissory estoppel is legal nonsense.” In his decision, he also struck out Wright’s new claim.

Describing the scale of Wright’s legal misdeeds, COPA’s legal representative, Jonathan Hough, claimed “Wright has found himself in contempt of court in three continents over two decades.” The hearing was again shared live by BitMEX Research, patent attorney David Pearce, and Bitnorbert. 

Read more: Craig Wright COPA appeal rejected by UK court as meritless

Earlier this year, Wright was referred to the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over his potential perjury. At the time, the UK courts struggled to identify where he’d gone after leaving the UK.  

When the judge asked what country Wright is currently in, he replied “Asia” — a continent. Mellor then noted that Wright “can avoid the consequences by continuing to base himself in Thailand.” He added, “Wright appears to be well aware of countries without extradition arrangements.”

Hours before yesterday’s hearing, Wright claimed that he couldn’t attend as he couldn’t afford the means to travel. COPA offered to cover these costs but Wright said that it would cost £240,000, including the losses to his business.

Throughout the case, Wright has chosen to represent himself. He has previously been caught citing non-existent legal cases through his use of ChatGPT. 

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Craig Wright said he won’t be attending his contempt of court hearing in London today, citing a “lack of means for travel.” As a result, he will likely be found in contempt and face possible arrest and prison.

There was much speculation about whether Wright would show up at the London Royal Courts of Justice to face the hearing brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). Last November, Mr. Justice Mellor ordered Wright to attend in person after deciding his arguments against attending carried “no justification.”

He said, “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion invited by COPA which was that his real motivation is a wish to avoid the consequences of his contempt (if proved).”  

Read more: COPA says Craig Wright used ChatGPT to write court submissions

Wright tried to argue that his autism and Christmas plans, among other things, should prevent him from attending.

COPA argues that Wright has breached his court injunctions after he filed a lawsuit against Jack Dorsey’s Square Up and BTC Core claiming £900 billion in damages.

Today’s High Court hearing was recorded by BitMEX Research, Bitnorbert, and patent attorney David Pearce. COPA reportedly offered to cover the costs of Wright’s travel. However, Wright, who now also dabbles in casino design, rejected the offer, reportedly asking for as much as £240,000.

According to Wright, this sum reflected the loss of business opportunities due to “COPA’s actions.”

COPA’s legal representative, Jonathan Hough, instructed by Bird & Bird, claimed, “Wright is voluntarily absenting himself to avoid consequences.” Hough later recommended that Wright should receive a custodial sentence of two years.

Judge Mellor has told COPA to invite Wright to a sentencing hearing tomorrow, which he can attend remotely, where a judgment will be handed down.

Update December 18, 12:49 UTC: Included Judge Mellor’s decision to hand down a judgment on Thursday.

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The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning that Retardio, a grossly offensive Solana-based memecoin and NFT project, “is not authorised” by the regulator. 

Retardio responded by posting a meme that depicts Jeff Bezos in clown makeup. 

It appears that the token has no reason to exist except to allow a contingent of Solana-based cryptocurrency traders an asset on which to speculate.

Following the announcement from the FCA, the token’s price was buoyed, according to data from DexScreener. The total market capitalization for the project has again breached $100 million.

The FCA has been trying to focus more on crypto, asking today for industry feedback on its new discussion paper looking at regulations for the space. 

Read more: TikTok accused of operating as crypto exchange in the UK, report

Additionally, the FCA has grown its cryptocurrency-focused staff this year. Its number has now reportedly reached triple digits and its fastest-growing team is the the policy team. 

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The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has asked businesses in the UK to disclose current and future crypto exposures by March 2025, in order to assess financial stability and set policy.

The Bank of England’s regulatory division issued the request on Friday, amid a growing number of UK firms embracing crypto. The PRA has also asked firms to explain how they use the Basel framework, which sets standards and minimums for bank capital requirements.

“This will inform work across the PRA and the Bank of England on cryptoassets by helping us calibrate our prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures, [and] analyze the relative costs and benefits of different policy options,” the PRA said.

Read more: TikTok accused of operating as crypto exchange in the UK, report

Additionally, the PRA requests information on businesses’ use of permissionless blockchains. In the questionnaire that they have been asked to complete, the PRA highlighted the risks of these ledgers.

“…they also pose risks such as lack of settlement finality, settlement failure, and no guaranteed link between the intended owner of the asset and the entity that may have control of the authentication, validation mechanism,” the document said.

UK firms taking part in the questionnaire must consider future crypto exposures up to September 30, 2029. Businesses have until 24 March, 2025 to respond.

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The UK has banned memecoin platform Pump Fun after the country’s financial watchdog added it to its warning list.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the warning on December 3, saying, “[Pump Fun] may be providing or promoting financial services or products without our permission. You should avoid dealing with this firm and beware of scams.”

Trying to access Pump Fun from the UK now brings up a notice that states, “In accordance with the laws and regulations of the United Kingdom, this site is currently unavailable to users in the United Kingdom.” 

Users with coins deposited in the “privy wallet” are given a link to withdraw their coins. 

Read more: Hacked X and Insta accounts used for Pump Fun rug pulls

The FCA’s warning means that if you lose money to Pump Fun as a UK resident in any way that warrants a complaint, i.e through criminal means or the business collapsing, you will not be able to access the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme. 

Pump Fun was the subject of criticism last November after its livestream feature showed users holding a fish at gunpoint, making violent threats, and performing gross acts on camera. The backlash prompted Pump Fun to disable the feature for an “indefinite time period.”

The platform has also become a hotspot for rug pulls that involve hackers targeting celebrity Instagram accounts.

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Craig Wright’s appeal application in his case against the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) was rejected by a UK court today, described as a baseless argument with “no prospect of success.”

Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Arnold wrote that the motion was refused “as being totally without merit.”

Wright filed multiple appeals after he was found to undoubtedly not be Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, during legal proceedings against COPA earlier this year. 

As reported by BitMex Research, Craig Wright’s appeal attempted to paint the judge as biased. However, today the court ruled “no credible allegation of either actual basis or apparent bias is made by Dr Wright, but only a series of disagreements with the judge’s reasoning.”

“In fact the judge leant over backwards to ensure that Dr Wright received a fair trial,” the ruling said.

Read more: Craig Wright ordered back to UK for COPA contempt of court hearing

Wright’s reliance on ChatGPT was also noted. It said that instances of his appeal and argument contained, “multiple falsehoods, including reliance upon fictitious authorities […] which appear to be AI-generated hallucinations.”

Craig Wright is scheduled to face a contempt of court hearing on December 18 after COPA countered his £900 billion ($1.14 trillion) claim against Jack Dorsey’s Square and BTC Core. If found guilty, Wright may be arrested and sentenced to up to two years in prison.  

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The European arm of crypto exchange Binance faces a lawsuit from a former executive, who claims she was wrongfully terminated after alerting managers to an alleged bribery.

Amrita Srivastava worked for Binance’s Link platform until she was dismissed in May 2023 — just one month after raising concerns about bribery in the workplace. 

According to Bloomberg, Srivastava recently claimed at an employment tribunal that one of her co-workers accepted money to fast-track a customer’s integration “under the guise of providing consultative services.”

A “chaotic” work environment pressured staff to make up for a “revenue gap,” Srivastava said at the hearing, after it came to light that a quarter of Binance Link’s revenue came from an Iran-linked customer.

In 2022, it was reported that Binance served crypto traders in Iran despite US sanctions and processed almost $8 billion in transactions.

Read more: Hamas victims from the US sue Iran, Syria, Binance, and CZ

She claims to have then learned about the bribery through a customer who frequently traveled to the UK, who informed her that he gave money to her colleague.

“I was not prepared to look the other way when someone had defrauded a customer and yet was still a part of the team — some things are just right and wrong, and asking for a bribe and defrauding a customer was not a gray area — it is most definitely wrong,” Srivastava said.

However, Binance maintains that she was fired over “poor performance” that pre-dated the alleged bribery. The firm claims that by the time Srivastava blew the whistle, the matter was already under investigation. 

The person behind the alleged bribery has reportedly left the firm. 

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A judge has ordered Craig Wright to return to the UK to face a contempt of court hearing after the Australian entrepreneur failed to argue that his autism and plans for Christmas should prevent him from appearing in person.

Patent attorney David Pearce attended the hearing today and documented Wright and Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) legal representative Jonathan Hough’s arguments for and against his attendance.

Today, COPA called Wright’s arguments “not remotely convincing,” and claimed, “wanting to spend Christmas in Indonesia is not a reason that should carry any weight.”

It also argued that Wright’s £900 billion claim would have to have, “very strong grounds against attendance in person.” Wright was also accused of “expert shopping” his autism expert, Dr. Kiln, and noted that Kiln never suggested he should give evidence remotely during previous trials. 

Read more: Craig Wright lawsuit made 184 ‘twisted and incoherent’ claims, say analysts

Wright previously argued that his autism should prevent him from attending in person and that the proposed timings weren’t ideal given his intended Christmas schedule.

Today, attending virtually, he claimed he has received social media abuse and that he needed two “ex-secret service” bodyguards to observe him over fears he was being followed.

Wright’s evidence also argued that the judge, overseeing today’s session, Mr. Justice Mellor, was affiliated with David Pearce. Mellor, however, shot down this allegation, noting that he’d only met him twice at official events. Mellor stated, “I reject in no uncertain terms any allegations of bias.”

COPA accused Wright of contempt of court earlier this month and claimed he breached his court injunctions when Wright filed a lawsuit against Jack Dorsey’s Square Up and BTC Core. 

Mellor ultimately rejected the argument supported by Wright’s expert and instead, admitted the evidence of another doctor who decided that Wright’s attempted remote attendance wasn’t justified.

The hearing is now scheduled to take place in person on December 18. 

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Craig Wright argued that his high-level autism and Christmas schedule should prevent him from attending a December court session after he was accused of contempt of court in a legal application filed today by COPA. 

BitMEX Research covered the hearing where Bird and Bird filed its claim on behalf of the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). The law firm argued that Wright has breached his injunction after he removed an online notice and launched his lawsuit against Jack Dorsey’s Square Up and BTC Core. 

On top of this, COPA wants to stay Wright’s lawsuit, halting the relevant court proceedings until the contempt of court filing is settled. 

Read more: Craig Wright files lawsuit against BTC Core and Square without barrister

COPA lawyer Jonathan Hough claimed, “It’s wrong in principle to hide behind a keyboard from a closet in Thailand. [Wright] says he is a UK resident and should be expected to return to the UK for the hearing.”

He added, “[Wright] is seeking to evade the consequences of his actions. He may want to avoid the police or avoid detention.” 

Craig claims autism prevents court appearance

COPA wants Wright to attend the contempt of court hearing in person but Wright argues that his high-level autism won’t allow it. “Look at me now,” he said while streaming from Singapore. “The lighting is set in a certain way. Being able to sit in a courtroom is a different issue, I might have a meltdown and I might not be cognitively able.” 

He also claims that he rarely sees his children and that it will be difficult for him to attend the hearing while his family is in Singapore in December. 

The judge ruled to stay Wright’s lawsuit against Square Up and scheduled a court session to determine if he was in contempt of court for December 18. A November 26 hearing will decide if Wright should attend this hearing in person or not.

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A London businessman accused of fraud in Singapore was ‘revealed’ today to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto at a £500-a-ticket unveiling event in Central London.

Stephen Nour Mollah was presented by event organizer Charles Anderson at the Frontline Club, a prestigious venue that has previously hosted talks with Louis Theroux, Julian Assange, and Alexander Litvinenko.

According to BBC reporter Joe Tidy who attended (some of) the event, the organizers asked for £500 to let him attend and ask questions of the ‘real’ Satoshi. Tidy reportedly declined to pay. 

Read more: Move aside HBO, this indicted Brit may be Satoshi Nakamoto

During the conference, Anderson bizarrely introduced himself as the inventor of Britain’s Got Talent and energy recovery systems in cars. He was also at one point interrupted by Frontline Club staff who insisted that the venue is neither affiliated with nor endorsing the event. 

It’s unclear if the event is a joke, a scam, or a legitimate claim to have revealed Satoshi’s identity. Under the event’s legal notice subheading, it says, “You may rest assured… this is the real thing! Were it not, we would not be placing this under the Legal Notice heading.” 

Mollah and Anderson stand accused in London of fraudulently convincing a would-be investor that Mollah was Satoshi from November 2022 to October 2023. Mollah apparently claimed to be in possession of 165,000 bitcoins in Singapore — worth up to $5 billion during that timeframe.

Mollah has promised to move Satoshi’s genesis bitcoins but not for another few months.

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