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Self-professed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright must pay $165,800 in legal fees as per the order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The ruling is part of the billion-dollar lawsuit filed by Ira Kleiman, brother of Wright’s deceased business partner David Kleiman, against Wright. At the heart of the lawsuit filed in February 2018 is the alleged theft by Wright of 1.1 million BTC worth $5.9 billion from his late business partner.
The ruling orders Wright to pay some of the plaintiff’s legal fees accrued in the ongoing lawsuit. Court documents reveal that Kleiman’s lawyers originally requested a total of $658,581.78 for attorney’s wages and expenses.
Florida judge Bruce Reinhart reduced the figure after discovering that Kleiman’s lawyers had billed excessive hours and charged exorbitant fees. The judge concluded that Wright must pay $113,760 in attorneys’ fees and $52,040.09 in expenses before March 31st.
Judge Reinhart also ruled that Wright must answer a number of questions on how he obtained the list of his Bitcoin addresses connected to the “Tulip Trusts” which allegedly contain the addresses. The self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator had previously objected to these questions citing attorney-client privilege as well as spousal privilege, among other grounds. The judge overruled Wright’s objections and ordered him to answer the questions on or before March 12th.
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