The court in Peter McCormack’s current case against Craig Wright concluded that Wright must pay McCormack’s court costs in damages, among other findings.
The conclusion of the trial also created an investigation into Wright for contempt of court, with Justice Chamberlain of the Royal Court of Justice writing, “I will issue a summons requiring Dr. Responsible for the Register of Media and Communications, who will instruct him to carry out contempt proceedings regarding the violation of the embargo.
This is a reference to the embargo on court drafts that Wright violated, as he shared details of the decision before the embargo date on MetaNet Slack (MetaNet is BSV’s educational company). The court read that “the Court of Appeals has signaled that a violation may result in contempt proceedings.”
While not a particularly good outcome for Wright, McCormack is also directed to pay approximately $1.1 million (900,000 British pounds) in legal fees, subject to assessment by a costs judge. He has stated on Twitter that “The stress of the last four years cannot be understated, it has had a significant impact on me and my family.”
This process follows a previous court hearing in the UK where McCormack was sued for calling Wright a “liar” and a “fraud” in 2019, which Wright denied caused him monetary damages after he withdrew from the role.
The court, in that case, ruled in Wright’s favor, but only after pointing out that he presented false evidence, which in turn led to the awarding of only 1 British pound in nominal damages.
In October 2022, Wright lost a defamation lawsuit against the pseudonymous Bitcoiner Hodlonaut. The lawsuit involves whether or not to challenge Wright’s claim that he is Satoshi Nakamoto meets the definition of defamation.
The court found that since Wright could not provide enough evidence to prove that he was indeed Satoshi Nakamoto, he had to be willing to put up with the debate and disagree with the non-believers. The conclusion included an order that Wright pay Hodlonaut’s legal fees of $348,257.