The $66B Bitcoin Mystery: Inside the Courtroom Drama Over 1.1M BTC

Miami Federal Court Just Witnessed Witness Intimidation Accusations in Kleiman v. Wright Case

A jaw-dropping civil trial over 1.1 million bitcoins (currently worth ~$66 billion) took a dramatic turn this week when defendant Craig Wright was caught red-handed using intimidation tactics during testimony.

Here’s what went down: Wright’s lawyers were arguing that an expert witness shouldn’t use the word “fraud” when suddenly—Wright posted in a private Slack group: “You know you can sue ‘experts’ who give misleading testimony.” Oops. Court caught it, judge wasn’t amused, Wright apologized.

But wait, it gets messier. Prosecutors dug up an earlier Slack message where Wright threatened to sue a former executive for fraud before his deposition. Wright’s team claimed it was about a different case, plaintiffs’ lawyer shot back that Wright’s own people were posting mocking comments on Twitter. Judge Beth Bloom basically said: “Y’all need to chill with the online warfare or face consequences.”

What’s Actually Being Fought Over?

Ira Kleiman is suing on behalf of his deceased brother Dave Kleiman’s estate, claiming Dave was a co-creator and co-miner of Bitcoin alongside Wright. If true, Dave’s heirs deserve a massive chunk of those 1.1M BTC that Wright controls.

Wright (an Australian computer scientist) claims he’s the real Satoshi Nakamoto—the mysterious author of Bitcoin’s original white paper from 2008. Problem: skeptics have been calling BS on this claim since Wright first made it in 2016.

The Smoking Guns So Far

Expert Witness Matthew Edman dropped the receipts: He analyzed dozens of documents and found at least 10 forgeries. Key findings:

• Documents dated 2011-2013 had metadata timestamps showing they were created in 2014 ✗
• One doc referenced a Bitmessage from 2012, but Bitmessage wasn’t even publicly available yet ✗
• Another used a Microsoft font that didn’t exist when the document was supposedly created ✗

This smells like Wright backdated evidence to establish Dave’s involvement retroactively.

Defense Strategy: Downplay Dave

Now that plaintiffs rested their case Tuesday, Wright’s team is fighting back by essentially arguing: “Dave Kleiman wasn’t that skilled anyway, so he couldn’t have helped with Bitcoin.”

Their witness Kevin Madura (cybersecurity expert) testified that Dave “did not know how to code” and was “not a skilled programmer in C++”—the language Bitcoin was coded in. But here’s the catch: Madura only reviewed Dave’s resume that Wright himself provided, and admitted under questioning that Dave could have taught himself or contributed in non-coding ways.

Another defense witness, Nicholas Chambers, tried to muddy the waters by blaming Ira Kleiman for destroying evidence. He testified that after Dave’s death, Ira reformatted Dave’s hard drives, leaving 13 of 14 drives with overwritten data. Translation: “We can’t verify what was actually on those computers.”

The Relationship Question

Wright’s ex-wife Lynn testified in a video deposition that Craig was always writing papers, but she never heard him specifically mention Bitcoin mining or owning BTC. She met Dave Kleiman once for dinner and drinks—described their vibe as “a mutual admiration club.”

Wright’s uncle Don Lynam (former Australian Air Force + software engineer) claims Craig sent him early drafts of the Bitcoin white paper around 2009 and mentioned needing “an extensive network of computers to run nodes.” But crucially: Craig never mentioned Dave Kleiman in connection with Bitcoin at all—Lynam only learned that name later.

The Money Angle

Ira Kleiman is demanding at least $11.4 billion in damages plus return of the wrongfully transferred BTC and its forked assets (Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV), plus punitive damages and attorney fees.

When the lawsuit was filed in 2018, Bitcoin was worth ~$10K. Now it’s near $60K—meaning those 1.1M BTC are worth 6x more than when this case started. The stakes just keep climbing.

Bottom Line

The court is essentially asking: Did Dave Kleiman co-create Bitcoin with Craig Wright, or is Wright a master fraudster who fabricated documents and stole a dead man’s legacy? The forged document evidence is damning so far, but the defense is fighting hard to create reasonable doubt about Dave’s actual contributions.

Trials aren’t over until they’re over, but right now the evidence trail looks pretty incriminating for Wright.