Craig Wright ordered to pay $100 million in Bitcoin lawsuit but cleared of all other charges

Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed pseudonymous inventor of the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has been ordered to pay $100 million in the Kleiman v. Wright civil lawsuit. The jury ruled that the Kleiman estate was not entitled to a share of the Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto’s fortune, which Wright claims to have control over.

Deadlocked jury finally reaches consensus

The jury in the Kleiman v. Wright case has decided in favor of the defendant on all except one of the seven counts against him. They found that David Kleiman’s relationship with Wright did not constitute a business relationship and that he was not a partner in the invention of Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto. The Kleiman estate would not be entitled to any portion of Nakamoto’s funds.

The legal battle between Wright and the Kleiman estate started in 2018. The Kleiman estate believed that Wright decided to seize Kleiman’s share of the Bitcoin fortune and intellectual property while the two parties engaged in a business relationship. 

David Kleiman’s brother, Ira Kleiman claimed that his deceased brother was entitled to 1.1 million Bitcoins since he was a frequent collaborator with Wright. The court ruled that Kleiman’s involvement with Wright was not sufficient enough to constitute a business relationship on the invention of BTC.

The jury took several days to reach a verdict, after Judge Beth Bloom issued an Allen Charge, instructing the deadlocked jury to reach a consensus. The jury sided with the plaintiff on the count of conversion, stating that there was an unauthorized use of funds that does not legally belong to the defendant, taking BTC funds from their joint company, W&K Info Defense Research. Wright was ordered to pay $100 million with no punitive damages. 

According to Wright, he believes that the $100 million liability was a “win” considering that he would have had to pay $3.2 billion in a previous settlement offer. He does not intend to appeal and is “incredibly relieved.”

As part of the legal dispute, a number of forged documents were uncovered that have cast doubt on Wright’s claims as the inventor of Bitcoin. However, the judgment presented in court recognized Wright as the sole creator of BTC. The case assumed that Wright had invented the world’s first cryptocurrency and whether he is actually Satoshi Nakamoto was not debated during the case.