Bitcoin Pioneer Jeff Garzik Subpoenaed in $4 Bln Lawsuit Against Craig Wright

Software engineer and Bitcoin (BTC) pioneer Jeff Garzik has been subpoenaed by a United States District Court in connection with the $4 billion lawsuit against Craig Wright, according to a document Garzik posted in a tweet on March 15.

The suit was initially filed last February with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida, with the family of David Kleiman —  a computer scientist, whom many suspect to have been one of the developers of Bitcoin and blockchain technology — alleging that Wright stole up to 1.1 million BTC after he passed away.

Following Kleiman’s death in 2013, Wright, who proclaimed himself to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, contacted his estate, allegedly claiming to want to help dispose of the Bitcoin fortune. Kleiman’s family claims that Wright did not return the funds.

The official complaint states that Wright “forged a series of contracts that purported to transfer Dave’s assets to Craig and/or companies controlled by him. Craig backdated these contracts and forged Dave’s signature on them.”

Wright subsequently requested the court to dismiss the lawsuit against him, however the court rejected the request. The court document confirms that “the Court finds that Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged a claim for conversion.”

Now, the subpoena calls Garzik to appear in court and reveal any evidence to the “personal theory” that Kleiman was Satoshi Nakamoto. The subpoena also requests to provide all communications, agreements and documents related to both Wright and Kleiman.

Additionally, the document asks Garzik to provide information concerning Bitcoin mining for the period between January 1, 2009 and April, 2013, and refers to the search for documents related to Silk Road, Liberty Reserve,  Mt. Gox, and the Prometheus Project.

The subpoena also asks for any communications with financial cryptographer Ian Grigg, CEO of Centre for Strategic Cyberspace + Security Science, Richard Zaluski, and early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, among others.

Last November, commenting on various hypotheses as to the Bitcoin creator’s identity, Garzik said:

"My personal theory is that it’s [Satoshi Nakamoto] Floridian Dave Kleiman. It matches his coding style, this gentleman was self taught. And the Bitcoin coder was someone who was very, very smart, but not a classically trained software engineer.”