UK Judge Orders Worldwide Freeze on Craig Wright's Assets

According to CoinDesk, Judge James Mellor has ordered a worldwide freeze on 6 million British pounds of Craig Wright's assets. The decision comes after a court case brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), in which Mellor found earlier this month that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. The judge ruled there was a risk Wright would move his assets offshore to avoid paying costs related to the case. In a March 14 decision, Judge Mellor also found that Wright did not author the Bitcoin white paper nor the initial versions of the Bitcoin software. Shortly after the ruling, Wright notified Companies House, the U.K.'s register of companies, that shares in his RCJBR Holding company had been transferred to DeMorgan, a company organized under the laws of Singapore. COPA's costs amount to about 6.7 million pounds, according to a judgment dated Wednesday and posted on the website of the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. Mellor wrote in the judgment that Wright's share transfer raised serious concerns on COPA's part that he was implementing measures to evade the costs consequences of his loss at trial. The judge also noted that Wright has a history of default in relation to orders for the payment of money and that there is a very real risk of dissipation.