Craig Wright has failed in a legal bid to gain more than token damages from a libel claim against bitcoiner and podcaster Peter McCormack, with the London Court of Appeal unanimously agreeing to offer Wright just 1 British pound ($1.29) in compensation. Lord Justice Mark Warby said in a ruling that High Court Judge Martin Chamberlain was “clearly right to treat Dr Wright’s lies and deception as ‘disreputable facts that are properly before the court’.”
In a statement emailed to CoinDesk, Wright expressed his disappointment that the Court of Appeal did not recognize the damage caused to him by “orchestrated online vitriol” which he said had a “severe impact on me and my wellbeing.” McCormack tweeted that “we must continue with our support for others caught up in this, including our brother Hodlonaut,” referring to another Twitter user who has been sued for libel by Wright.
In October 2021, Chamberlain found that McCormack couldn’t prove assertions that Wright was a fraud, awarding Wright only nominal damages due to false evidence. However, McCormack was later ordered to pay around £900,000 in legal costs.
In a separate U.K. case, judges ruled on Tuesday that Wright must pay £400,000 in security for legal costs to pursue his claim that crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase are breaching his intellectual property by allowing trading in bitcoin (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH). Later Wednesday, a Florida court is set to consider whether Wright has committed contempt of court in a $143 million dispute with former business partner Ira Kleiman, charges which Wright has denied.