On Wednesday, Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright, who claims to have invented bitcoin, demanded that the developers of the cryptocurrency give him access to the wallets, the keys to which were allegedly stolen from him. According to reports, one of these addresses (1Feex) stores 80,000 bitcoins stolen from the Mt exchange. Gox in 2011. Taking advantage of the fact that Wright recognizes the ownership of this address, lawyers from the firm Anderson Kill P. C. took a retaliatory step.
The company represents the interests of bitcoin investor Danny Brewster, who was affected by the Mt. Gox hack. Turning to the firm representing Wright, Ontier LLP, they write: "You and your client are hereby notified that our client and many others who find themselves in a similar situation have a fair-based right to bitcoins held at the 1Feex address in the amount of at least and probably more than $17,500,000. Your client has legal and equity obligations to our client and others in connection with BTC on the main network and any forks of the Bitcoin chain, including BCH, BCH ABC, and BSV."
Anderson Kill notes that it reserves the right to seek an order to freeze assets, as well as to sue Wright for misappropriation of property and on other grounds.
"Regardless of the above, if your client is not actually the owner of the bitcoins in the 1Feex address, our client will have fewer claims against you and may be more inclined to go for reconciliation in this case. If your client does not own bitcoins on the 1Feex address and can confirm that he never controlled this address, please notify him that we can avoid unnecessary proceedings, " adds Anderson Kill.
Ex-CEO OF Mt. Gox's Mark Karpeles approved the actions of Brewster's lawyers. "I have no doubt that these coins were stolen from Mt. Gox in 2011. This means that the ownership of this address attributed to Wright is invalid and some may call his claims fraudulent, " Karpeles wrote.