Recently, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States delivered a ruling in the high-profile Bitcoin ownership dispute between Craig Wright, who claims to be the creator of Bitcoin, and Ira Kleiman. The court sided with Wright, maintaining the district court’s verdict, as no evidence suggested that it was based on a flawed legal standard. As such, the court denied any possibility of a retrial.
Origins of the Dispute
In 2018, Kleiman filed a lawsuit against Wright, demanding a 50% stake in 1.1 million BTC mined during Bitcoin’s nascent stage. Kleiman contended that his late brother, Dave Kleiman, collaborated with Wright in mining these bitcoins, thus entitling him to a portion of the assets. Wright refuted these claims, asserting that he and Dave were merely friends and that Dave assisted him in editing the Bitcoin whitepaper. He denied any business partnership with Dave before his death in 2013.
The Court’s Verdict
In 2021, a court in Florida decreed that Wright, who identifies himself as Satoshi Nakamoto, would compensate W&K Info Defense Research $100 million for unlawfully acquiring the company from Kleiman. The jury also determined that Wright and Kleiman had not been business associates and that the compensation would be made in fiat currency, not BTC.
Denial of Appeal
Disagreeing with the jury’s conclusion that there was no partnership, Kleiman appealed the case. He argued that the ruling was flawed for various reasons, including the misapplication of the legal standard and the court’s discretionary abuse. The plaintiffs also claimed that the court wrongly denied a new trial based on the defendant’s violation of an order barring evidence of the brotherly relationship between Dave and Ira. However, the Court of Appeals rejected these arguments, upholding the jury’s decision. The court stated that the Estate had not demonstrated that the court relied on an incorrect legal standard or made a clear judgment error.
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