Craig Wright is not defamed by referring to it as fraud, judicial rules

Craig Wright is not defamed by referring to it as fraud, judicial rules

Craig Wright hoped to convince the world that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, but his dream was made on Thursday when a Norwegian judge decided that public comments that made Wright's claims ridiculed were not illegal or particularly offensive.

Magnus Granath, a Norwegian who is known online under the pseudonym Hodlonaut, described Wright in a series of tweets from March 2019 as "a very sad and pathetic fraud" and "a fraudster". The tweets were deleted a few weeks later, but not before they aroused the anger of the Australian entrepreneur, who claimed since 2015 -That he is Satoshi, the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin WhitePapers.

Wright's lawyers threatened to complain in Great Britain, unless Granath recognizes Wright as Satoshi. Instead, Granath, the plaintiff in the Norwegian case, applied for a judgment that his tweets were justified.

"Welcome to law" is an indication of the final line of Wrights own screed from 2019 as he swors Provide evidence ”by using“ courts and laws ”.

At least one dish has now stated that the evidence is still not there. In the decision of the Oslo District Court, judge Helen Engebrigtsen concluded that Granath's statements were not defamatory if they were considered against his right to freedom of expression.

"The court believes that Granath had sufficient factual reasons to say that Wright, when trying to prove that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, lied and cheated," the judgment said. in the translation from the Norwegian, states.

For years, Wright has been to be the author of versions of the Bitcoin-Whitepaper and the Bitcoin code, which was published before the first known edition of Satoshi in 2009.

Although the Granath court freed from any liability for its statements and checked about 11,000 pages of documents, the judge did not want to decide whether Wright was actually the Creator of Bitcoin.

"Both parties in the case have pointed out to the circumstances that speak for it and against the fact that Wright Satoshi is nakamoto," wrote engebrigtsen and added: "The court decided not to express itself because it has no influence on the outcome of the case."

dishes have previously refused to interfere in the debate about Wright's entitlement to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.

However, it was relevant for the context of Granaths tweets, and the judge wrote: "The court points out that the evidence submitted in the case are not suitable for changing the prevailing opinion that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto."

Wright was convicted of around $ 385,000 for Granath's attorney's fees of around $ 385,000. Wright

The leading lawyer of Wright told Blockworks that they “do not agree to the court's assessment that Granaths were not defamatory in the legal sense”, and found that “private individuals on Twitter should enjoy the same protection as on other media platforms”.