BITCOIN TRIAL:
DEFENDANT
WINS DISPUTE
OVER $50B
IN BITCOIN
Craig Wright, a computer scientist who claims
to be the inventor of Bitcoin, prevailed in a civil
trial verdict against the family of a deceased
business partner that claimed it was owed half of a
cryptocurrency fortune worth tens of billions.
A Florida jury found that Wright did not owe
half of 1.1 million Bitcoin to the family of David
Kleiman. The jury did award $100 million in
intellectual property rights to a joint venture
between the two men, a fraction of what
Kleiman’s lawyers were asking for at trial.
“This was a tremendous victory for our side,” said
Andres Rivero of Rivero Mestre LLP, the lead lawyer
representing Wright.
David Kleiman died in April 2013 at the
age of 46. Led by his brother Ira Kleiman,
his family has claimed David Kleiman and
Wright were close friends and co-created
Bitcoin through a partnership.
At the center of the trial were 1.1 million Bitcoin,
worth approximately $50 billion. These were