Craig Wright Vindicated in Kleiman’s Case, Set to Pay $100M in Damages

Craig Wright, the Australian tech entrepreneur who claimed to be the Satoshi Nakamoto that created Bitcoin (BTC) has been vindicated by a Miami jury in the civil case filed against him by the family of his late business partner, Dave Kleiman. As reported by Coindesk, the Federal Jury found the computer scientist did not have a business partnership with Dave Kleiman, however, he was directed to pay the sum of $100 million in compensatory damages to W&K Info Defense Research.

According to Ira Kleiman, the deceased brother who represented the family, there were a number of documents and evidence that were presented to show Wright and Kleiman were jointly involved in the creation of Bitcoin in the early days. One of these incriminating pieces of evidence includes an email that Wright sent to many people saying things like:

“Dave Kleiman and I started mining in 2009. So we have a few things that will interest them. It is a shame Dave died last year before fruition, but all is moving ahead”; “I was not the person doing the mining. Dave was.”, and “Satoshi was a team. Without the other part of the team, he died.”

The verdict has been seen by Craig Wright as a testament to the fact that he is not a fraud, he said he welcomes the jury’s verdict.

“I feel remarkably happy and vindicated,” Wright said in the courtroom hallway after the verdict was announced. “I am not a fraud, and I never have been.” He added that he had offered Kleiman’s estate, represented by Dave’s brother Ira Kleiman, “12 million many years ago, which if he had taken that then in Bitcoin when bitcoin was $200, and he kept it – you can do the  math.”

While Ira and the defense lawyers had been expecting a split of the 1.1 million Bitcoins claimed to have been mined by Satoshi, Vel Freedman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his team, too, was happy with the verdict: “We just won $100 million!”

Though Vindicated, Is Craig Wright Satoshi Nakamoto?

The jury in the Kleiman case had a tough job and they were mostly unable to agree on the majority of the counts levied against Craig Wright. Amongst the charges they were asked to evaluate include whether they believed; Wright was liable to Dave Kleiman’s estate for breach of a business partnership; whether Wright was liable to the estate for conversion; whether Wright was liable to W&K (the joint venture) for conversion; and whether the plaintiffs proved their case for civil theft amongst others.

The jury was not asked to determine the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto which eases the pressure on Craig Wright. However, he said if need be, he would have been able to prove that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, a claim that many industry stakeholders have disputed over time.

Despite being vindicated in the Kleiman case, several lawsuits still hang around Craig Wright’s head, one of which involves his ex-wife Lynn Wright, and current wife, Ramona Watts (she filed as Ramona Ang). Both women were against the suit filed by Ira Kleiman noting that they control a third of W&K Info Defense Research. This second lawsuit is on hold pending the outcome of the Wright and Dave Kleiman case.