“On October 30th, without any advance notice, Plaintiffs were informed Craig could no longer finance the settlement and was ‘breaking’ the non-binding settlement agreement,” reads the document.
Australian-born technologist and self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, who created Bitcoin, has no funds (500,000 BTC) to settle the case with David Kleinman. Wright has pulled out of the agreement in which he has to forfeit half of his intellectual property and BTC mined before 2014.
The document was filed by Kleinman’s counsel to depose an out-of-state witness.
The case was reaching a resolution with the agreement but now that that the settlement is broken, the trial is back on and set for March 30, 2020.
The charges were brought against Wright in 2008 by Ira Kleinman on behalf of his deceased brother’s estate. Kleinman alleges Wright manipulated business emails and documents to defraud the estate.
In late August, Wright actioned to forfeit 50% of his Bitcoin holdings, after he was found in contempt of court by Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart in failure to disclose a complete list of his bitcoin addresses, reportedly amounting to over a million BTC.
Wright claimed that his Bitcoin was inaccessible due to the death of David Kleinman, his former business partner.
“These discussions began at Craig’s request and due to the fact that Craig represented he had the means to finance a settlement,” said Velvel Freedman of Roche Freedman that is representing Kleinman, in the filing.
Now, “without notice” Wright has reneged on the non-binding agreement.