Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, has entered settlements talks with the estate of his late partner Dave Kleiman in the infamous $10 billion lawsuit.
According to a September 17 filing, first seen by Decrypt, both the estate of Kleiman and Wright asked the judge for a 30-day extension on the case’s deadline to facilitate the talks. The joint motion reads:
The parties have been engaged in extensive settlement negotiations and have reached a non-binding agreement in principle to settle this matter.
Both parties pointed out that reaching a “final binding settlement agreement” in their best interests, in a lawsuit that was launched over a year ago when the brother of Dave Kleiman, Ira, sued Wright for allegedly defrauding his late business partner’s family over the claim to 1.1 million bitcoin.
The BTC being disputed is now worth well over $11.1 billion. Earlier Judge Bruce Reinhard recommended Wright pay 50% of the jointly-mined bitcoin prior to December 31 of 2013, after rejecting Wright’s testimony in his defense of allegations of theft and fraud.
The judge, at the time, reportedly said the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto perjured himself by presenting the court with falsified documents, and recommended he also hand over intellectual property rights related to Bitcoin.
These developments mean the case could be settled soon, and that the cryptocurrency community likely won’t see the Judge make any judgment as to whether Craig Wright is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto, although some argue the lawsuit shows both Dave Kleiman and Wright were there when Bitcoin was created.
Featured image via Pixabay.com.
