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While no new big information has been revealed during the third day of the Kleiman v Wright civil trial, what stood out the most are the inconsistencies in plaintiff Ira Kleiman’s witness testimony, which are mostly anecdotal stories that are not backed by any form of evidence admissible in a court of law.
Brief Background
On behalf of the David Kleiman estate, his brother Ira Kleiman is demanding Craig S. Wright to give up to 50% of the 1.1 million BTC mined through W&K Info Defense Research, LLC. Ira Kleiman is claiming that David Kleiman was the co-author of the Bitcoin white paper and a business partner in W&K. If proven so, Kleiman’s estate is entitled to half of the 1.1 million BTC mined by W&K, currently valued at about $70 billion.
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David Kleiman was Wright’s friend, and many people can verify that they have a good and close relationship. Wright even posted a very emotional video eulogy after Kleiman’s death in April 2013. “I’ll miss you, Dave. You were my friend, and I’ll miss you.” Wright has not denied that Kleiman helped him polish the Bitcoin white paper. In fact, he has admitted to Kleiman editing some of his papers, and they even co-wrote a white paper on cyber security. “Dave could edit his way to hell and back.” An editor is vastly different from an author.
The defense’s argument is that there is no legal or written operating agreement in existence stating that David Kleiman is a business partner in W&K—apart from Wright himself calling Kleiman his “partner” and “business partner” in some emails— and no evidence that he co-authored the Bitcoin white paper with Wright.
And the terms “partner” and “business partner” can be loosely used in informal settings, and may even be used with affection, as Wright clearly has a lot of for David Kleiman. What is more glaring is that there is also no account of David Kleiman, aside from the one told by Ira Kleiman at court today, telling anybody that he co-invented Bitcoin.
Thanksgiving 2009
A consequential aspect of the lawsuit filed by Ira Kleiman against Wright is hinged on this story that he told the court today. According to Ira Kleiman, he spent Thanksgiving 2009 with David Kleiman and their family.
After dinner, Ira Kleiman recounted talking to David Kleiman about Facebook and if he’s doing something interesting. To which David Kleiman allegedly replied that he is working on “something that is bigger than Facebook” and that he was “creating his own money.”
Ira Kleiman said that he was even concerned that his brother might be involved in counterfeiting money. And to this, David Kleiman supposedly pulled out a business card and drew the logo of a “B” with one or two lines going through it at the back of it to show his brother the “digital money” logo “they” were working on. This was the last time that Ira Kleiman saw his brother alive, and the one and only time that David Kleiman talked about this “digital money” to Ira Kleiman.
The 2009 Bitcoin Logo
During counsel for the defense Andres Rivero’s cross-examination of Ira Kleiman, it is revealed that the logo Ira Kleiman vividly recalled his brother drew during their conversation about “digital money” last Thanksgiving 2009 was actually not the Bitcoin logo at that time.
According to Kurt Wuckert Jr., who is covering the entire Kleiman v Wright trial from the courtroom, when Rivero pointing this fact out, “clearly caught Ira off guard.” What Ira Kleiman was referring to is actually the Bitcoin logo designed by BitBoy in 2011.
Being caught almost lying, Ira Kleiman seems to make up an excuse for his confusion by saying that his brother would always consult him about logos, and that was why he may have mixed them up.
The Brothers’ Relationship
The entire Thanksgiving 2009 story seemingly portrays a close relationship between the two brothers, with Ira Kleiman even testifying that David Kleiman gave him tips to invest in Apple, Nvidia and Twitter early on.
However, David Kleiman did not tell his brother to buy Bitcoin. And before his death in 2013, Bitcoin was already in the news and its price was already increasing. So, why did David Kleiman tell his brother to invest in these companies that might make it big and not tell him to buy something that could be “bigger than Facebook?”
Furthermore, David Kleiman died in poverty and was not even capable of paying his cell phone bill. And for two and a half years, Ira Kleiman never again reached out to his wheelchair-bound brother dying of MRSA. This verifiable fact points to an estranged relationship between the two brothers and not a close one.
The third day of the historic Bitcoin trial, which ironically is expected to be completed before the Thanksgiving holidays this year, came to a close. And yet, the plaintiff has not been able to present definitive proof that David Kleiman has claimed to anyone—not his brother nor his best friend—that he co-invented Bitcoin.
