Self-proclaimed bitcoin 'creator' sued for $10bn

Suit brought by former coding partner's family alleges Craig Wright stole bitcoins and intellectual property

Craig Wright, the Australian man who claimed to have invented bitcoin, is being sued for more than $10bn ($7.2bn) by the family of his former business partner.

The lawsuit, first reported by tech site Motherboard, alleges that Wright mined bitcoins together with Dave Kleiman, a programmer who died in 2013, after which time Wright "perpetrated a scheme" to "seize Dave's bitcoins". The plaintiff representing Dave Kleiman's estate, Kleiman's brother Ira, admits that the total amount of bitcoin in question is unknown - but says it is likely to be between 300,000 and 1.1m.