- Craig Wright could have to hand over an extra $43 million in relation to the Kleiman case
- The prejudgement claim dates back to the day Wright stole the intellectual property from W&K Infor Defense
- Wright already owes $100 million to W&K, plus interest accruing on a daily basis
Craig Wright could have as much as $43 million added to the $100 million he already owes his former company W&K Info Defense after lawyers for the prosecution in the Kleiman vs Wright case filed a prejudgment claim to that amount. The claim was made yesterday, and any such award would be in addition to the interest that Wright is accruing every day he doesn’t pay the $100 million that the jury felt he owed.
Update from the Kleiman v. Wright case: W&K Info Defense Solutions just filed a request for $43 million in prejudgment interest https://t.co/OQcTB5Y7Qk
— Carolina Bolado (@CarolinaBolado) January 5, 2022
Prejudgement Claim Dates Back to 2013
Wright was adjudged to have committed conversion at the culmination of the trial in December via the unlawful procurement of intellectual property, with the jury awarding W&K Info Defense $100 million. There was always the likelihood of prejudgment interest being added to this, which is essentially additional money that a court can award based on the interest that the judgement would have earned over the period of time from when the claimant was entitled to receive it.
In the case of W&K this dates back to November 2013 when Wright took the IP, according to Kleiman’s legal team, which he did through two court cases in Australia. In these cases, Wright claimed he had loaned W&K millions of dollars’ worth of bitcoin and accepted IP as recompense, although there is little actual evidence to back up the transfers or that Wright ever owned that much bitcoin in the first place.
Wright’s Legal Team Will Likely Appeal
Wright’s legal team will have the chance to oppose the $43 million claim, which they will almost certainly take, although any delay in agreeing and paying the fee only adds to the post-judgement costs that the Kleiman team will undoubtedly seek. They, and Wright’s supporters, have claimed that Wright won his case against Kleiman because the majority of the charges were dismissed, although a $150 million plus bill doesn’t seem like that much of a victory.
Of course, the entire thing could be rendered moot if Kleiman’s legal team succeeds in its efforts to get a new trial following alleged violations by Wright’s team during the trial.
