Craig Wright, who says he’s bitcoin inventor Satoshi, is being sued for $10 billion for allegedly trying to steal bitcoin.
Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright, who claims he’s Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of bitcoin, has been slapped with a $10.2 billion lawsuit accusing him of trying to steal blockchain intellectual property rights and more than $5 billion worth of bitcoin.
In the federal lawsuit filed in a Florida district court, the estate of deceased computer genius Dave Kleiman claims Wright tried to swindle Kleinman out of the bitcoin stash they collectively held, as well as IP rights to blockchain technologies they collaborated on.
Kleiman (pictured at right) and Wright had worked on bitcoin since its humble beginnings stemming back to 2008. Together, they mined bitcoin and amassed more than 1.1 million bitcoin tokens, according to the court filing.
In 2011, Kleiman and Wright founded a Florida-based bitcoin mining and software development company called W&K Info Defense Research LLC.
Kleiman owned 50% to 100% of W&K, according to the lawsuit filed by his brother Ira, who sued on behalf of Dave’s estate.
Amassed More Than 1.1 Million Bitcoin Tokens
During their time working together at W&K, the two friends worked on blockchain technologies and mined more than 1.1 million bitcoin. Using today’s price, that translates to roughly $11 billion.
Kleiman was wheelchair-bound following a grisly 1995 motorcycle accident, and died in 2013 from complications from an MRSA super-bug infection. He was 46.
Wright is currently chief scientist at blockchain firm nChain. In 2016, he made headlines when he claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin. That revelation was met with both excitement and skepticism.
