Craig Wright & Kleiman Start Settlement Discussions

Both parties of the Wright/Kleiman case have just entered settlement discussions and have requested a 30-day extension of all case parties to understand all the negotiations.

According to a joint motion filed on 12th September Craig Wright and Ira Kleiman have reached a “non-binding agreement in principle” in order to settle the case with both parties agreeing that by reaching a binding settlement is in their "best interests."

As reported by Sam Bourgi for CCN:

“Both parties are seeking an extension of all deadlines pertaining to the case in order to exclusively devote their efforts to settlement discussions. Currently, Kleiman’s motion for attorneys’ fees is due on Sept. 20, Wright’s opposition to sanctions ordered by Judge Reinhart is due on Sept. 23, and expert disclosures are due on Nov. 5.”

Several analysts have attributed the 40 percent federal estate tax incurred by Kleiman through the court’s ruling as the motivation for the plaintiff’s desire to settle.

This has been ongoing since last year when Ira Kleiman sued the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, for $10 billion alleging that Wright had sought to fraudulently gain custody over his late-brother Dave Kleiman bitcoin holdings.

Judge Bruce Reinhart was the man overseeing the case and ruled in favour of Kleiman in the end.

Reinhart concluded that Wright had made several “inconsistent statements” relating to material matters concerning his reported inability to demonstrate the value of his bitcoin holdings as of 31st December 2013. The Judge said:

“I completely reject Dr. Wright’s testimony about the alleged Tulip Trust, the alleged encrypted file, and his alleged inability to identify his bitcoin holdings.”

The magistrate says Wright’s testimony, “was not supported by other evidence in the record” and “defies common sense and real-life experience.” Reinhart went onto highlight that “when it was favorable to him,” Wright “appeared to have an excellent memory and a scrupulous attention to detail.” 

But otherwise, Wright was found to be “belligerent and evasive.”

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. For more news on this and other crypto updates, keep it with CryptoDaily!