Verdict against self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor balloons to $143 mln

A representation of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin is seen in this picture illustration taken October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Edgar Su

(Reuters) – Self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright must pay another $43 million to a joint venture he co-created, adding to a $100 million verdict against him last year, a federal judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, ruled Wednesday.

A jury in December found Wright unlawfully seized intellectual property belonging to the joint venture, W&K Info Defense Research. U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom awarded the additional $43 million in interest on damages W&K suffered from when he took control of the IP in 2013 until the court’s final judgment.

Wright had argued that W&K should only be entitled to interest measured from October 2021, when the IP’s value was highest, through December.

W&K’s attorneys said in a statement that the decision, like the verdict, “sets a historical precedent in cryptocurrency and blockchain.”

An attorney for Wright did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The brother of Wright’s late former partner, computer forensics expert Dave Kleiman, sued Wright in 2018, alleging he stole intellectual property related to blockchain technology from W&K along with 1.1 million bitcoin.

According to court papers, the bitcoin was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, who wrote a white paper describing the framework for what would become bitcoin. Wright has said that he is Nakamoto, which has been disputed.

Jurors awarded W&K $100 million for Wright’s conversion of its intellectual property but cleared Wright of other claims including theft and fraud, and found W&K and Kleiman were not entitled to any of the disputed bitcoin.

Kleiman said in the lawsuit that the assets were worth over $11 billion. Today, the 1.1 million bitcoin would be worth $43 billion.

The case is Kleiman v. Wright, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, No. 9:18-cv-80176.

For Kleiman: Vel Freedman and Kyle Roche of Roche Freedman, Andrew Brenner, Steve Zack, and Max Pritt of Boies Schiller Flexner

For Wright: Andres Rivero of Rivero Mestre

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