Craig Wright’s Multibillion-Dollar Bitcoin Trial Moves to Year’s End

CSW-1420-916
10 May 2021

A trial involving cryptocurrency entrepreneur Craig Wright and the estate of his former business partner has again been rescheduled, this time for Nov. 1.

  • In an order signed late last month, Judge Beth Bloom at the District Court in the Southern District of Florida granted a joint motion by Wright and plaintiff Ira Kleiman to move the date.
  • The judge also moved the calendar call to Sept. 14 and extended the due date for demonstrative and summary exhibits to Aug. 31, as the parties had requested.
  • The status of the case will be discussed in a conference on Tuesday, according to the order.
  • In September of last year, Wright attempted to prevent the case from going to a full trial by filing a motion seeking summary judgment. The motion was summarily denied by Judge Bloom.
  • Since then, the trial date has been moved several times.
  • Kleiman brought the case on behalf of the estate of his late brother David who had worked with Wright during bitcoin's early days.
  • Wright is being sued for half of his alleged fortune of 1.1 million bitcoin (approximately $65.2 billion at today's prices) he claims the two mined together, as well as intellectual property.
  • NChain chief scientist Wright has controversially proclaimed himself as the inventor of bitcoin, even going so far as to threaten developers with legal action on the basis of copyright infringement.

See also: Square-Led COPA Sues Craig Wright Over Bitcoin White Paper Copyright Claims

Disclosure
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.