Wright asked the court to extend the period to appeal a verdict in the case against Ira Kleiman. He said that he was not able to properly prepare his allegations to challenge the judge’s decision.
The Australian programmer that claims to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, reported that he will appeal a verdict of the courts in which he is asked to give half of his bitcoins to Dave Kleiman’s relatives.
The judge in charge of the case, Bruce E. Reinhart, ruled that Wright should hand over 50% of his holdings to Ira Kleiman, late Dave Kleiman’s brother. The property that he is asked to deliver consists of bitcoins mined before 2014 and half of the intellectual property related to what was developed for those dates.
Reinhart stated in the ruling that Wright acted in bad faith, committed perjury and presented false evidence to support his allegations.
Appealing the Sentence
As expected, Wright and his legal team filed a motion to appeal the verdict returned by Judge Reinhart, since the ruling implies that the Australian programmer must give Kleiman’s relatives the equivalent of about 500,000 BTC (estimated at almost US $5,000 million) to for “improperly taking possession of” his late partner’s assets, apart from the costs related to his intellectual property.
However, in a new document filed with the court, Wright asks the authorities to extend the period due to file his appeal. He justified that he needed more time to prepare his arguments because of Hurricane Dorian, whose effects were felt on Florida’s coasts.
The document presented by Wright specifies that he does not recognize the verdict that Judge Reinhart presented on the case. He explained that the amount of time that could possibly apply to extend the valid period and appeal the legal validity of the sentence would be 14 days, in accordance with the provisions of section 72 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
A Vague Excuse
Justifying the resolution, Wright’s lawyer said that the defendant required more time as he was preparing to face the hurricane that affected Florida’s coasts, which compromised his availability to properly prepare his appeal.
The measure was labeled by many people within the ecosystem as a very vague excuse, since the verdict issued by Judge Reinhart is based on strong evidence. Far from proving Wright’s innocence, it only puts on the table a lot of irregularities perpetuated by the Australian programmer to take possession of properties that do not belong to him.
Although the trial does not provide details that help clarify whether Wright is listed as the true creator of Bitcoin, the fact of having to hand over half of the BTCs to Kleiman demonstrates his true ability to move these funds. At one point in the case, Wright said that part of the code necessary to take possession of these assets was lost at the time of Dave’s death, since he did not reveal where the respective information would be housed to unlock the respective bitcoins.
For the time being, Wright would have until September 13th to file the respective appeal, in case of not being granted the additional 14 days that he requested.
By Willmen Blanco
