Craig Wright has built a reputation for being opinionated and quite litigious. Now, he appears to have found someone else to direct his legal ire towards. Recently, industry news source CoinGeek reported that Wright had filed another lawsuit against Roger Ver.
Having Issues With Ver’s Statements
A copy of the case file showed that Wright had sued Ver for defamation. The case was filed with the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda, where both men also appear to have holdings. The claim relates to Ver’s public chastising of Wright in 2019.
At the time, Ver had slammed Wright — the self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator — as a “liar” and a “fraud.” Ver also famously asked Wright to sue him again, and it appears that Wright has obliged.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first suit that Wright will file against Ver. The self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto sued Ver at the High Court of England and Wales, per a report from Decrypt. However, the case didn’t get anywhere. Months later, the High Court dismissed it.
In a decision, Justice Matthew Nicklin of the Queen’s Bench Division explained:
“The Claimant has not satisfied me that England and Wales is clearly the most appropriate place to bring his action for defamation over the publications complained of. In consequence, the Court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the action. The action will be struck out.”
Wright took the case to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, but that effort failed as well. Like the High Court, the Appeals Court threw the case out on the grounds that it didn’t have the jurisdiction to make rulings on such a conflict.
Seeing no way in England, Wright is moving forward with Antigua and Barbuda. The court documents on CoinGeek explain that Wright will have a better chance of nailing his opponent, as both appear to be citizens.
Wright is explicitly seeking an injunction to restrain Ver from stating “defamatory” allegations like the one in his message on social media. He is also seeking financial compensation from the first statement.
Wright’s History of Suing Detractors
It’s worth noting that Ver isn’t the only person to draw Wright’s ire for calling him out on his Satoshi claims. Hodlnaut, a famous crypto insider and proponent, did so in 2019 and got a lawsuit too. Like Ver, Wright sued Hodlnaut for libel with the Norwegian District Court. However, the court threw the case out and ordered him to pay legal fees.
After appealing the case’s judgment twice, Wright racked up over $60,000 in fees. However, he doesn’t appear to have kept his end of the bargain. Hodlnaut called him out last month, claiming in a tweet that Wright had yet to pay a cent that he owed.
Asides Hodlnaut, Wright has also sued Peter McCormack, a top cryptocurrency podcaster. Wright sued McCormack for libel, asking for an end to any false statements and $130,000 in payments. It’s unclear whether the third time will be the charm for Wright against Roger Ver. However, given his track record with cases like these, it’s unlikely that he will get anywhere.
