Craig Wright's $11.5 Billion Trial Pushed Back to 2021

By Liam Frost

Judge Beth Bloom in Florida’s Southern District Court has granted the motion to extend certain pre-trial deadlines in the ongoing legal battle over half of 1.1 million Bitcoin ($11.5 billion today) between self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright and the estate of David Kleiman.

The trial itself, which was previously scheduled for October 13, has been postponed until 2021.

“THIS CAUSE is set for trial during the Court’s two-week trial calendar beginning on January 4, 2021, at 9:00 a.m. Calendar call will be held at 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15, 2020,” said the court order.

The lawsuit against Wright was filed over a year ago by Ira Kleiman, the brother of Wright’s alleged late partner Dave Kleiman. Ira Kleiman claims the two former colleagues mined Bitcoin together in its early days while Wright stalwarts that he was the sole miner. Kleiman’s estate is suing Wright for half of the 1.1 million Bitcoin stash that he claims to own—worth $11.5 billion at today’s prices.

Judge Beth Bloom granted the motion to postpone Craig Wright's billion-dollar Bitcoin trial. Image: Shutterstock

According to the court order published yesterday, the motion—filed jointly by both parties—has been granted in part. Specifically, proceedings regarding the proposed verdict form, voir dire questions, exhibit list and objections will now take place on December 15. Likewise, demonstrative and summary exhibits were moved to December 21.

In their motion, the parties asked for additional time “to work on a targeted joint presentation of the exhibits and objections, with the hope of reducing the number of disputes requiring judicial resolution.”

“Using the proposed deadlines to make streamlined, focused decisions will conserve judicial and party resources and lead to a better, and better considered, presentation of each side’s position at trial,” argued the document filed by Wright and the Kleiman estate.

As Decrypt reported, Craig Wright's billion-dollar lawsuit was originally slated to go to trial on July 6 but has since been postponed multiple times. If that hadn’t happened—perhaps it would have been all over by now.

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