Every other week we witness a fresh twist in the longstanding courtroom farce that is Craig Wright vs Ira Kleiman. In this episode, Craig says he is ‘both exercising a right and fulfilling an obligation’, by not sharing over 10,000 documents with the court, in the case brought against him by the estate of Dave Kleiman.
Are Dissolved Companies Privileged?
The latest update follows on from Wright’s earlier insistence that he could not provide the requested documents due to the existence of client/attorney privilege.
Ira Kleiman, brother of Dave, argued that a dissolved corporation had no such privilege, and a large proportion of the documents related to dissolved corporations.
However, Wright now contends that both Florida (where the case is being heard) and Australian (where Wright originates) laws “hold that a corporation’s privilege is not extinguished upon a corporation’s dissolution.”
Is Craig Wright In Control?
Another of Kleiman’s arguments is that Wright is no longer in the corporations’ ‘control groups’, and is therefore unable to claim privilege on their behalf. But once again, Wright states that Florida law says “one does not need to be within the control group to assert privilege on behalf of a dissolved corporation.”
Furthermore, Wright contends that, under Australian law, he is still connected to the companies through his obligation to preserve their records. This gives him the authority to claim privilege of those records on behalf of the companies, he says.
Hence, producing the documents would require Wright to break Australian law, putting him in an ‘untenable position’.
Either One Or The Other
Kleiman has previously accused Wright of double-standards, in using the defunct companies as a both a sword (when asserting privileges) and a shield (“disavowing any control over those companies when it suits his interest”).
It is also interesting to note that Wright is incredibly protective over these specific documents, yet has intentionally spammed the plaintiff with over 20,000 unlabelled documents just days before a discovery deadline.
Craig Wright Should Drop the Act
This is just the latest update to a case that has taken so many twists and turns over the last year that it can seemingly get no more bizarre. Unless…
Wright, of course, wouldn’t be having to devote so much of his time to legal matters if he hadn’t chosen to ‘out’ himself as Satoshi Nakamoto.
In fact, if it wasn’t for his success in the McCormack case hinging on him actually being Satoshi Nakamoto, then most of his legal troubles would go away if he just dropped the act now. Although, he’s also perfectly able to walk away from the McCormack case, which he initiated, and live life as a free man again.
Just something to bear in mind.
What do you make of the latest Craig Wright lawsuit updates? Add your thoughts below!
Images via Shutterstock
Source: https://bitcoinist.com/craig-wright-refuses-documents-us-court/