Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin, was dealt a massive blow as a Florida District Court judge ordered him to turn half of his Bitcoin holdings and intellectual property (IP) rights to the estate of David Kleiman.
According to Monday's ruling on the Kleiman v. Wright case, Judge Bruce Reinhart of the Southern District of Florida court ordered Wright to hand over 50 percent of Bitcoins and IP rights associated with Bitcoin’s software held by him prior to December 31, 2013.
Bad news BSV.
KLEIMAN AWARDED 50%IP AND BITCOIN MINED BEFORE DEATH JUDGE REJECTS ALL CSW TESTIMONY FINDS CSW PERJURED LIED FALSIFIED DOCUMENTS — 22nd Century Crypto (@22centurycrypto) August 26, 2019
The ruling came after the Judge rejected Wright’s testimony on the grounds of perjury and falsifying documents.
Despite the ruling, procedural issues are still pending, including the collection of holdings. Though Wright can appeal against the judgment in a higher court, he is not entitled to a jury trial or to oppose the hearing.
Billions in BTC are in stake
The estate of Wright’s late business partner, David Kleiman, filed a lawsuit in February 2018 over claims that Wright misappropriated a $10 billion fortune. The allegations concern the ownership of between 550,000 and 1.1 million bitcoins, which the two business partners mined together, as well as the intellectual property rights of various Blockchain technologies.
Earlier in May, the same court ordered Wright to disclose the public Bitcoin addresses owned by him as of December 31, 2013.
Wright is one of the most controversial figures in the crypto space. His claims of being the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto were squashed by many prominent figures in the industry.
Last month, a UK court dismissed defamation changes brought by him against Roger Ver due to jurisdictional issues. He also filed another similar lawsuit against podcaster Peter McCormick, which is still ongoing.
