The billion-dollar Bitcoin lawsuit between Craig S.Wright and Dave Kleiman’s family reached a conclusive end in Miami. After weeks of back and forth between the defendant and plaintiff, the jury’s verdict found Wright not guilty for breaching a partnership with Dave Kleiman. Wright registered a win on all counts of allegations. However, the jury ordered him to pay $100 million in compensatory damages.
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Wright avoids $200 billion Bitcoin payout
Although $100 million is not a small amount, Wright ducks an initial request of $200 billion in damages from the plaintiff. The civil court case involving Wright and his late business partner Dave Kleimann was about 1.1 million pre-mined bitcoin. The plaintiff believed that Wright owed half of this fortune to Kleiman’s family, but the conclusion took a different turn. However, a positive feeling was apparent from both sides after the verdict.
Wright told a media outlet that he is “incredibly relieved”. He added,
“This is not bad at all.” Additionally, Wright does not intend to appeal this verdict. Similarly, Ira Kleiman’s attorney Vel Freedman said his team was “thrilled” with the result. Freedman said in a statement,
“We are immensely gratified that our client, W&K Information Defense Research LLC, will receive $100 million reflecting that Craigh Wright wrongfully took bitcoin-related assets from W&K. This verdict sets a historical precedent in the innovative and transformative industry of cryptocurrency and blockchain.”
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The case in trial in the federal court in Miami was highly technical. Both sides of the deliberations explained their sides of the story and jurors spent weeks coming to this conclusion. While the case went in Wright’s favor, the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains in question.
If Wright had lost this trial, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor had to produce Satoshi’s cache in order to pay W&K. Right now, the court did not ask him to reveal ownership but Wright did state that he would prove ownership if he wins the trial.
Now, CSW is victorious, so will he take a step further and finally prove his Nakamoto identity claim? Only time will tell.