Craig Wright Abandons Libel Suit Against Adam Back, Pays All Legal Fees
Crag Wright, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto and chief scientist at NChain, has dropped a libel lawsuit against Adam Back over the Blockstream chief executive’s assertion that Wright was fraudulent in claiming to be the creator of Bitcoin (BTC).
Wright filed the complaint alongside similar suits targeting Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, Bitcoin.com founder Roger Ver, podcaster Peter McCormack, and Twitter user ‘Hodlnaut’ one year ago.
Craig Wright drops libel suit against Blockstream CEO
On April 12, Adam Back tweeted that Craig Wright had abandoned his libel suit. Back stated that Wright’s representation “declined to give any explanation of why Craig retracted.”
The Blockstream CEO also notes that Wright agreed to reimburse all legal fees he incurred — describing the move as strange given that it is “reasonable costs” of between 65% and 75% is the legal standard. In total, he estimates that the exercise cost Wright upwards of $25,000.
After agreeing to dismiss the case, Back states that he received roughly $8,400 “by wire the very next business day.” Back adds:
“On the plus side I have to thank Craig for paying for a very informative 2hr+ briefing on latest UK libel law trends, and hilarious and detailed briefing on the case vs @PeterMcCormack from legal experts at RPC. (Who were barely stifling smirks at the craziness much of the time.”
In response to the ruling, McCormack tweeted: “Me next.”
Wright pays Back’s legal costs in full
In July 2019, the High Court of England and Wales dismissed the libel suit against Roger Ver over lack of jurisdiction. Ver was served with the $125,000 lawsuit in May 2019, to which he quickly responded with a video message stating: “Craig Wright is a liar and a fraud, so sue me, again.”
In January 2020, the U.K. High Court also ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over the suit against Hodlonaut, asserting that the case must proceed in Norway instead.
Vitalik Buterin did not respond to the letter sent by Wright in April 2019, and no update appears to have taken place regarding the case since.