This morning, Newsweek outed Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto as a 64-year-old man from Temple City, Calif. who goes by Dorian S. Nakamoto. Some feared for the privacy of a man who clearly preferred to be left alone, while others shrugged. But I think it's safe to say at this point that privacy is no longer in the cards for Nakamoto.

Will Oremus Will Oremus is Slate’s senior technology writer. Email him at will.oremus@slate.com or follow him on Twitter.

At present, the poor guy—sorry, wrong word—the rich guy is apparently being pursued across Los Angeles by a pack of ravenous media. Nakamoto is in the lead car with an Associated Press reporter whom he agreed to meet for sushi after a large group of journalists staked out his home today. Behind him are all the other reporters he scorned in favor of the AP reporter. (Hell hath no fury like a journalist scorned.) All of this is according to Los Angeles Times deputy business editor Joe Bel Bruno, who has been live-tweeting the O.J.-like spectacle as it unfolds.






I should note upfront that it is perhaps conceivable that Bel Bruno is putting us all on, and that I'm making myself complicit in a hoax—something I often scold other reporters for—by republishing his tweets here. If that's the case, I will apologize. But Bel Bruno is a real guy, he seems to be getting firsthand information, and this whole affair is just too wild and 21st-century-ish not to share. Stay tuned for updates, or better yet, stay tuned to Bel Bruno's Twitter feed. Tweets are the new news choppers.



UPDATE, 5:07 p.m.: Nakamoto is apparently safely ensconced in the AP's Los Angeles bureau office. And Bel Bruno has now posted pictures of the scene outside. Meanwhile, he reports that Nakamoto is denying being the creator of Bitcoin.



UPDATE, 7:50 p.m.: The AP is now reporting that Dorian S. Nakamoto denies any involvement in bitcoin, contrary to the Newsweek cover story: "In an exclusive two-hour interview with The Associated Press Dorian S. Nakamoto, 64, said he had never heard of Bitcoin until his son told him he had been contacted by a reporter three weeks ago."

