Further allegations of falsified messages and documents are likely to arise in the Craig Wright bitcoin trial after pre-trial testimony surfaced in a court document this week.

Jonathan Warren, the developer of the decentralized peer-to-peer messaging system, testified in a pre-trial examination in the ongoing Kleiman vs Wright lawsuit, in which the estate of the late David Kleiman – former business partner of Wright – claims it was defrauded out of around $5 billion of bitcoin.

Warren spoke of his role in developing Bitmessage and speculated on the possibility that Wright and Kleiman would have had access to the messaging software before it was released.

Forged Document Allegations

The document also reveals allegations from Warren, that messages relating to the formation of the Tulip Trust – the fund that allegedly holds the bitcoin at the centre of the fraud accusations – could have been forged.

Warren was questioned about Bitmessages dated between November 6 and 13, 2012 that had subject titles such as “The trust process”, “Regarding the trust process”, and “1933”, he confirmed that the Bitmessage protocol was not released until November 19 and that these messages were likely “faked”.

This would not be first time Wright – who claims to be Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto – has been accused of falsifying documents in the trail, currently being heard in a South Florida District Court.

In early July, after being late in presenting a number of documents requested by the court, Wright was accused by trial lawyer Stephen Palley of fabricating some of the exhibits.

One document dated October 23, 2012 said that Wright and Kleiman had acted in mutual trust to “form a partnership in order to best exploit and utilise their joint assets”. In examination of the document’s metadata, however, the font used showed an updated copyright for 2015.

Cross Examination

Under cross examination by Wright’s defence counsel Warren was accused of putting forward misleading testimony that he had not sought help in developing the Bitmessage code.

Meanwhile, Warren’s claim that he had not known of Wright prior to Wright’s public claim to be Satoshi in 2016 was also questioned when it was revealed Warren had been in communication with Wright about an audit of Bitmessage in November 2014.