Reports that the former CEO of nChain, Christen Ager-Hanssen, was sentenced to 10 months for the leaking of documents exposing Craig Wright have been confirmed.
According to What The Finance (WTF), a judgment hearing took place on May 3 in the High Court as part of nChain Holding AG’s case against Ager-Hanssen.
During the hearing, the judge established that Ager-Hanssen had broken multiple court orders requiring him to remove leaked documents from the public domain, reveal who received his documents, and give up various devices.
The leaked document was reportedly the Fairway Brief, a collection of confidential information relating to Craig Wright’s false claims to be Satoshi. The document also alleged Calvin Ayre, Marco Bianchi, and the Fairway Family Office AG conducted a ‘criminal conspiracy’ that would allow Ayre to take over nChain’s IP for a cheaper rate.
nChain reportedly acquired court orders to remove the information from the public domain before filing for contempt of court. The judge concluded that Ager-Hanssen deliberately breached these orders and he was found in contempt of court. The court reportedly viewed his non-compliance as an attempt to undermine court authority and nChain’s requests to keep its information confidential.
Read more: Former nChain CEO funded UK Tories without permission, report
As a result, he was handed immediate custodial sentences of 10 months and four months, to be served concurrently, for breaching the various orders. He is reportedly due to be released in five months. His hearing was initially reported by WTF who confirmed the news today.
Ager-Hanssen is reportedly going to appeal his conviction. Whistleblowers UK, which will reportedly support Ager-Hanssen in an appeal, told WTF, “This case like many others, demonstrates that UK whistleblowing laws are out of step with justice and do not do what they are supposed to do, which is to protect whistleblowers against criminals.”
