Day 3 Highlights of Bitcoin Creator Trial Kleiman v Wright

Day 3 of the Kleiman v Wright trial, considerably the trial of the century, went off without a hitch in the Miami federal courtroom. This case will decide who in fact is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin and writer of the Bitcoin white paper, and the owner of 1.1 million Bitcoin valued at over $69 billion. Both sides agree that Craig Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto, with the defense asserting he is the only one and the plaintiff claiming David Kleiman is at least half of Satoshi Nakamoto. The plaintiff, Ira Kleiman, contends that Craig Wright and Ira’s deceased brother David had created and mined Bitcoin together and that the Kleiman estate is entitled to at least half of them.

“The trial was boring today,” said Kurt Wuckert Jr. in his daily livestream which he broadcasts immediately following the day’s courtroom events.

He was referring to the fact that the day was filled with a lot of video deposition watching which was in support of the plaintiff making their case. The court also heard testimony from Jamie Wilson, who in 2013 worked with Craig as his CFO and partner for a variety of Wright’s companies. Wilson had stepped down and left his position in October 2013.

It was notable that his opinion of Craig was back and forth during testimony. While on one hand he said he liked Craig and enjoyed working with him and on the other hand he didn’t like who Craig had become. He felt Craig was a jeans and hoodie kind of guy who took up wearing flashy suits and expensive watches. This could go back to the idea that he was never paid for his role in the startup company for which he was CFO, although he stated he never expected any pay.

One of the video depositions included that of Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of Bitcoin Association. Jimmy, a career intellectual property and digital technology lawyer, is well versed in the courtroom and was able to easily navigate the potentially rough waters that the plaintiff’s attorney was trying to push Jimmy towards. The questioning was geared towards gathering information from Nguyen as to whether Wright moved Bitcoin into other company holdings such as nChain. Unfortunately for the plaintiff, Jimmy was unable to confirm any of that information.

The only drama that occurred during the day was when the plaintiff’s lawyers made several attempts to paint a picture of Ira Kleiman to be a frail man who doesn’t really understand how the proceedings work in the courtroom. Explaining to him as you might a young child that they will be asked questions from both sides and that the defense lawyers might ask harder ones and not be so nice. The defense lawyers, after a few minutes of this portrayal playing to the jury, had enough and asked the judge to intervene. Judge Beth Bloom felt the same and ordered the plaintiff’s attorney to move on.

Tomorrow may see more of the same as the plaintiff continues to make their case. Hopefully there will be more live testimony and cross-examination which generally provides for more gripping drama and theatrics by the lawyers.