Those who have been following the Kleiman vs Wright trial have few options if they want to do so in anything like real time. Being a live trial, obviously up-to-the-minute reporting options are thin on the ground. Interested parties can catch up with the daily updates from crypto outlets, but these are often biased and don’t always reflect everything that happened. There is, however, one woman who has put herself in the eye of the Kleiman vs Wright storm and whose Twitter feed has become a kind of argument palace for those on both sides of the case, a woman who’s Twitter page is now hundreds of people’s first visit come 10am – Law360’s Carolina Bolado.
Carolina has been reporting on the Kleiman vs Wright case since 2019 and has been attending court every day since the trial started at the beginning of last week. It didn’t take long for Wright’s followers and critics to gravitate to her Twitter feed as she began regular live updates from the court, with her refreshingly untainted factual explanation of events quickly becoming a hit.
FullyCrypto spoke to Carolina on her sudden popularity and how she is finding being a lightning rod for the raucous verbal battles that take place on her Twitter feed on an hourly basis when court is in session.
What did you know of Bitcoin before you started reporting on it?
I knew a few basic things about cryptocurrency, but I had no idea that this world of enthusiasts existed and that they felt so strongly about some of the personalities involved. I remember sitting in that hearing and googling Satoshi Nakamoto to figure out what they were talking about.
How have you found the attention that has suddenly arrived at your virtual doorstep?
It is still really overwhelming but people seem hungry for information about what’s happening in the case, and I’m happy to provide that. So far, everyone has been very nice. Female journalists can get a fair amount of abuse online, but thankfully I haven’t had any of that directed at me from this crowd.
Do you read the arguments that break out under your posts?
I do read most of the comments, or at least scroll through them. I am not tempted to get into debates with anyone, as I don’t really feel strongly enough about this to do so. But I do respond to questions people have about the things I know about: legal procedures, what’s happening in the courtroom, etc. I want people to understand what’s going on.
Do you ever feel like getting involved?
I’ve been keeping my personal opinions out of my reporting my entire career. In this case, it’s not particularly hard because I truly do not have a dog in this fight. With that said, it’s hard to sit through a weeks-long trial each day and not come up with some opinions. When I sit in a trial like this, I like to imagine being a juror and trying to decide the case. It’s hard because I have more information than the jurors — I’ve covered the case since 2019, and I’m in the courtroom while the attorneys are discussing what to present to the jury.
How would you be feeling if you were a juror right now?
The amount of evidence is massive. It’s going to be so overwhelming for the jurors. The hard part too is that jurors aren’t allowed to talk about the case until it’s over and deliberation starts. So they can’t go back in their lunch hour and talk about what they’ve seen. They can’t do that until the very end when they then have to digest weeks’ worth of information and come to a decision. They bring back all of the documents printed out for them in big stacks so they can refer to it during deliberations.
There is a lot for them to decide on – it seems like deliberations might take a while.
They might have a gut feeling and an initial consensus, but the devil is in the details. They will have to follow the instructions closely on all the counts, then if they rule for Kleiman they will have to figure out how much to award in damages. It’ll be complicated. I think it will likely take them a while to come to a verdict.
Can the loser appeal?
There will absolutely be an appeal of whatever the jury decides. Whoever loses this will appeal it to the Eleventh Circuit.
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You can follow Carolina’s reporting on Kleiman vs Wright from her Twitter account @carolinabolado and you can read her daily updates at law360.com.
As Carolina says, everyone has been really nice so far.
Don’t spoil it.
