BTC Wires had recently reported about a lawsuit that the
BTC Wires had recently reported about a lawsuit that the Winklevoss twins had brought against Charlie Shrem, regarding theft of 5000 bitcoins. In an interesting twist of events, Shrem won the court case against the twins and the court let him go.
The court has released a document and according to that, Charlie Shrem, founding member and former Vice Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and convicted felon, has been declared not guilty in the ongoing lawsuit which the Winklevoss twins filed against him.
The Winklevoss twins had slapped Shrem with a lawsuit which claimed that Shrem spent around 5000 bitcoins which he had stolen from them way back 2012, which in today’s day is worth around $32 million.
The lawsuit states,
‘Either Shrem has been incredibly lucky and successful since leaving prison, or, more likely, he acquired his six properties, two Maseratis, two powerboats and other holdings with the appreciated value of the 5,000 Bitcoin he stole from the Winklevoss twins in 2012.’
Shrem however denied the claims completely and instead stated that his current wealth has been accumulated by him through hard work, after he was released from prison after a year.
‘After I was released from prison, I had a net worth of less than $100,000 and worked for approximately six months at a restaurant in Pennsylvania.’
The federal judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled that the $30 million attachment which was granted against Shrem was going to be lifted.
Shrem claimed that the 5000 BTC actually belonged to another individual, and was kept in a cold storage wallet. Shrem claims that he had no access to.
Judge Rakoff wrote,
‘After careful consideration, the Court denies plaintiff’s motion to confirm the order of attachment and therefore lifts the attachment currently in place, effective immediately. An opinion explaining the reasons for this ruling will issue in due course’
The case is still ongoing, and will have an official trial by jury on April 8, 2019.