Kleiman v Wright Day 12 was all about Dave Kleiman, as told by his friends

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Day 12 of the Kleiman v Wright trial was all about Dave Kleiman. Taking the stand on Thursday was Dr. D. Stewart MacIntyre, who was well versed in Dave Kleiman’s medical history. He was followed by Kimon Andreou, one of Dave Kleiman’s very close friends, and then by third witness Carter Conrad, who was a friend of Dave’s as well as his business partner in Computer Forensics LLC. The last witness for the day, David Kuharcik, was Dave Kleiman’s friend and accountant.

In general, Day 12 gave the court a further look into Dave Kleiman’s health and a first look at who Dave Kleiman was as a person.

Witness #1

The day began with the continuation of Dr. MacIntyre’s examination. The medical specialist resumed his explanation to the court that Dave Kleiman was in such poor medical condition that he needed care every two hours while he was an in-patient at the hospital.

MacIntyre says that Dave Kleiman’s medical records show that he was eventually issued an “irregular discharge from the hospital” and that the records show that he was not really ready to be discharged at the time he asked to be released because he was still requiring so many treatments.

In his cross-examination, plaintiff’s lawyer Andrew Brenner argued that although Dave Kleiman was not physically capable of doing much—at least not without assistance—Dave was very capable mentally and academically. On top of that, many of Dave Kleiman’s medical reports from his nurses and doctors included comments about Kleiman “always being on the computer,” with Dave reporting to nurses and doctors, and even waiving therapy sessions, because he had work to do.

A piece of evidence that Brenner showed the court—a medical report—read:

“Dave Kleiman is able to conduct business from his hospital bed…[Dave Kleiman] indicated [that] his ability to continue working has helped him cope with his medical problems.”

Brenner attempted to make the very subtle point that Dave could have been doing Bitcoin-related work from his computer, and it was a solid argument—unfortunately, the jury looked half asleep for the majority of the day.

The defense chose not to redirect and instead called their next witness to the stand, Kimon Andreou.

Witness #2

Andreou was Dave Kleiman’s co-worker at a security company located in West Palm Beach. Andreou said Kleiman would often ask him for assistance at work because Kleiman was not a programmer/coder and Andreou was.

Outside of work, Andreou said he was friends with Kleiman, and that he would sometimes go to restaurants and gun shows with Dave Kleiman. When Dave Kleiman was hospitalized for significant periods of time, Andreou would sometimes visit him in the hospital every day of the week just to chat with him or to drop food off to him or eat dinner with him. Andreou said that he and Dave Kleiman talked about several different topics, but that Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining were never topics of conversation.

Brenner cross-examined Andreou, and the lawyer brought up an email from Andreou to Ira Kleiman that read, “If all the docs are authentic, then with the addition of anecdotal info we have from discussions with Dave, all signs point to Dave and Craig indeed being behind Bitcoin… I’m convinced Craig and Dave are the co-creators of Bitcoin.”

Brenner attempted to highlight the idea that Dave Kleiman had a conversation with Kimon Andreou about Bitcoin, pressing Andreou to name the people he refers to as “we” in his email to Ira were. However, Andreou was adamant that the “we” was not him and Dave, but rather, a larger group of individuals that he knew had discussions about Dave in relation to Bitcoin.

Brenner was not able to get anything out of Andreou during his cross-examination and the defense chose not to redirect. The third witness—Carter Conrad—was then called to the stand

Witness #3

Conrad is an individual with several computer and security certifications. He met Dave Kleiman in the mid-2000s, partnered with Dave to create Computer Forensics LLC, and says he spoke to Dave daily. Conrad said that sometimes, he acted as Dave’s legs, helping Dave with some of the physical tasks—like retrieving objects or lifting computers—that Dave would have found challenging given his medical conditions.

In his examination of Conrad, defense lawyer Jorge Mestre made the argument that Dave Kleiman knew how to create a legitimate business partnership because he and Conrad went through the procedure to legitimately establish their Computer Forensics business.

Conrad testified that Dave Kleiman never mentioned Bitcoin, Bitcoin mining, or a partnership between Dr. Wright and Dave Kleiman in which they did Bitcoin-related activities.

Conrad also confirmed that Ira Kleiman had sued him and the Computer Forensics LLC at one point, in search of Bitcoin that could potentially belong to Dave Kleiman.

When the cross-examination began, Vel Freedman asked Conrad if Dave Kleiman was able to control computers from a remote location. This argument seemed to imply that even if Dave Kleiman was in one location, like the hospital, that he could do work on a computer located in a different location, like a mining farm.

Mestre did a redirect in which he asked Conrad if Dave Kleiman was the kind of guy that would alleviate himself from the financial troubles he was experiencing if he had the assets to do so. Conrad responded: “I struggle with that, [Dave was in a bad financial situation, his health was not good] I struggle with the idea that if he had any kind of assets that he would not use them.”

Which seemed to imply that Conrad believes Dave Kleiman would have used his assets—including Bitcoin if he had it—to eliminate his financial troubles.

Mestre ended his redirect on that note, and witness #4—David Kuharcik—took the stand virtually via Zoom.

Witness #4

Kuharcik was a friend of Dave Kleiman as well as his accountant. However, when defense lawyer Amanda McGovern attempted to make her arguments via questioning Kuharcik, McGovern was repeatedly shut down. The plaintiff’s lawyers repeatedly posed objections that were sustained. The plaintiffs stressed that Kuhacik and Dave Kleiman had accountant-client privilege, and since most of the discussions between Dave Kleiman and Kuharcik were business-related, Kuharcik was not able to give any meaningful information about Dave Kleiman to the court.

After repeatedly getting shut down by the plaintiffs, McGovern asked Judge Beth Bloom for a sidebar and both legal counsels gathered around Bloom’s bench to discuss the matter. Once the sidebar ended, the court was adjourned for the day.

General takeaway

Today was all about Dave Kleiman, and we really began to see what kind of person Dave was, how his peers thought of him and respected him, as well as some of his personal interests. It was revealed that even those who considered Dave a very good friend had never heard Dave talk about Bitcoin or Bitcoin mining. They were also unaware of Dave ever having a business partnership or Bitcoin-related matters.

The defense drove home the argument that Dave Kleiman and Dr. Wright never had a partnership when it came to Bitcoin-related matters, and this idea was supported by the fact that there’s zero evidence that says otherwise.

The plaintiffs were almost able to catch some wind in their sails when they pressed Kimon Andreou about the email he sent to Ira Kleiman, but Andreou—who came across as sincere and genuine—guaranteed that he never had a conversation with Dave about Bitcoin-related matters.

It will be interesting to see if Kuharcik will be able to unearth anything about Dave Kleiman, or if the defense will keep getting shut down due to accountant-client privilege.

Day 13 of court will resume on Friday with David Kuharcik on the stand.

CoinGeek features Kurt Wuckert Jr. in recap coverage which will be livestreamed daily at 6:30 p.m. EST on our YouTube Channel.

Watch our Day 12 Special Report from the Kleiman v Wright trial here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZGFGk4qAmI

Check out all of the CoinGeek special reports on the Kleiman v Wright YouTube playlist.