On Monday afternoon, Judge Beth Bloom, from the District Court of Florida, denied Craig Wright’s summary judgment and the infamous billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit will go to trial in January. The court published a 93-page decision on the matter, as Judge Bloom detailed that “a genuine dispute of material fact exists” for a number of the complaints.
Since Valentine’s Day in 2018, Craig Wright, the Australian who claims he invented Bitcoin, has been involved in a billion-dollar lawsuit. The case concerns the rightful ownership of an alleged 1.1 million BTC worth roughly $11 billion using today’s exchange rates.
The plaintiff Ira Kleiman initiated the case and Ira’s lawsuit accuses Wright of manipulating his late brother’s bitcoin assets after his brother David Kleiman passed away in 2013.
Representatives of David Kleiman’s estate say Craig Wright “perpetrated a scheme against Dave’s estate to seize Dave’s bitcoins and his rights to certain intellectual property associated with the Bitcoin technology.”
Just recently Wright’s lawyers put in a motion for a summary judgment, which would have stopped the Kleiman’s from bringing the lawsuit to trial. However, Judge Beth Bloom completely denied Wright’s summary judgment motion on Monday. Wright’s summary judgment motion attempted to argue that the Florida court had no jurisdiction over the matters but failed.
“Upon review, [Craig Wright] presents no record evidence to support a defense that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over him,” Bloom wrote in her order. The order shows that the trial will take place on January 4, 2021.
After the judgment, the attorney Stephen Palley, partner at Anderson Kill, discussed a number of pages and the opinions from Judge Beth Bloom’s 93-page order on Twitter.
“Wright made 6 arguments, all of which the judge ultimately says are losers,” Palley wrote. “Next, the judge will get into the facts, and identify ones that are not ‘genuinely in dispute.’”
Palley further added:
There’s no dispute (at least based on the evidence) that Wright described himself and Kleiman as Satoshi on multiple occasions. These statements doesn’t mean that when made they were true (that he is Satoshi), btw; let’s see if the Courts get there (doubtful).
A number of people on social media and cryptocurrency forums discussed Judge Beth Bloom’s decision to deny Wright’s summary judgment.
Longtime bitcoiner, Daniel Krawisz, said on Twitter that the court decision will be meaningful for the entire crypto market.
“Whatever happens to Craig Wright in court will matter for everybody in the whole crypto market,” Krawisz tweeted. “You can’t escape him just by staying away from BSV,” he added. A few people did not believe Krawisz’s statements as a number of crypto advocates think Craig Wright is completely irrelevant in regard to the digital currency ecosystem in general.
“I won’t be affected, at all,” one person responded to Krawisz, and another person replied “exactly zero.”
What do you think about Judge Beth Bloom denying Craig Wright’s summary judgment? Let us know what you think about this matter in the comments below.
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