BITCOIN TRIAL: Defendant Craig Wright Wins Dispute over Bitcoin Fortune
Posted on 12/07/2021
Australian computer scientist Craig Wright claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin. Craig prevailed in a civil trial verdict Monday (December 6, 2021) against the family of a deceased business partner David Kleiman that claimed it was owed half of a cryptocurrency fortune of 1.1 billion Bitcoin (BTC). A West Palm Beach, Florida jury found that Wright did not owe half of 1.1 million Bitcoin to the family of David Kleiman. Based on Monday’s prices the 1.1 million Bitcoin was worth around US$ 50 billion.
The jury did order Wright to pay US$ 100 million in compensatory damages over a breach in intellectual property rights related to W&K Info Defense Research LLC, a joint venture between Wright and Kleiman. The US$ 100 million will go to W&K directly, rather than to the Kleiman estate.
“We are immensely gratified that our client, W&K Information Defense Research LLC, has won $100,000,000 reflecting that Craig Wright wrongfully took bitcoin-related assets from W&K,” said counsel for W&K.
“This was a tremendous victory for our side,” commented Andres Rivero of Rivero Mestre LLP, the lead lawyer representing Craig Wright.
Bitcoin’s origins have always been a bit of a mystery and Craig Wright implied in a 2016 blog post that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. David Kleiman died in April 2013 at the age of 46. David’s brother Ira Kleiman and his family asserted that David Kleiman and Wright were close friends and co-created Bitcoin through a partnership.
If Wright had lost the case, he would be obligated to show the Satoshi cache of coins in order to pay the estate.