Craig Wright’s long drawn out one-sided claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin looks to have finally hit the wall. In a recent update in the court case involving the Bitcoin SV [BSV] leadman and Dave Klieman’s estate and family, the Florida court granted a motion to compel Wright to prove his BTC holdings by June 17.
The United States District Court of the Southern District of Florida handed down the motion to Wright on June 14, as revealed by lawyer Stephen Palley.
In addition to Wright sending out legal notices to those who call him out to be a “fraud,” for his self-attestation to being the creator of Bitcoin, the BSV man was also caught in a legal spat with the deceased Dave Kleiman. The legal dispute now taken over by Klieman’s estate accused Wright of ‘misappropriating’ over a million Bitcoin, which values over a billion dollars USD, following a previous professional relationship between Kleiman and Wright almost a decade ago.
The current Wright vs. Kleiman case has been ongoing for several months with the judge instructing Wright to present a list of Bitcoin addresses which he claimed he owned as on December 2013. Wright responded that to produce a list of his Bitcoin holdings would be “unduly burdensome”, however, the court quickly dismissed this excuse.
During the previous proceeding, in early May, Ira Kleiman, responded to the “unverified order” asking for Wright to produce the list of BTC owned as of December 31, 2013, identify the transferred Bitcoins to the blind trust in 2011, and produce documents evidencing the same. Wright was also expected to identify current and past trustees and beneficiaries of the blind trust under oath, and finally, allow for further deposition, with reference to the ownership and control of the disputed Bitcoins.
Given the motion to compel has already been leveled against Wright and his inability to provide evidence of the 2013 Bitcoin addresses has already been revealed, a non-compliance of the same is likely. If Wright does go down this path, he will be held in contempt of court which could probably be charged as a criminal act. Depending on the court and the judged, this criminal act could result in a substantial fine or jail time for the nChain chief scientist.
The court document further read that Wright will have to appear before the court on or before June 28 “to show cause why the undersigned should not certify the facts recited above,” and “to show cause why he should not be adjudged in civil and/or criminal contempt by reason of these facts.”
Well, it looks like Wright’s claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto took a Wrong turn.
