A return filing in Charlie Shrem’s defence against alleged theft of 5,000 BTC criticizes the Winklevosses’ lawsuit as having “no basis in fact or law.”
An attorney for embattled Bitcoin Foundation founder Charlie Shrem formally hit back on Nov. 5 at accusations by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss as part of an ongoing lawsuit concerning alleged Bitcoin (BTC) theft.
In a filing addressing the Winklevosses’ claims, attorney Brian E. Klein said Shrem, who is under investigation for allegedly “stealing” 5000 bitcoins ($32 million) from the twins in 2012, had “committed no misconduct.”
“Shrem can show by verifiable evidence that he did not take the 5,000 bitcoins (the Winklevosses) accuse him of taking,” the filing reads.
As Cointelegraph reported, the lawsuit against Shrem involves a convoluted history spanning six years. The result of a falling out over a deal to help the Winklevosses accrue cryptocurrency, Shrem had also lost the billionaires as business partners in his now-defunct exchange project BitInstant.
Shrem subsequently spent a year in jail on separate charges related to BitInstant, not involving the twins.
In September, however, the same judge in charge of the previous proceedings agreed to partly freeze Shrem’s assets amid accusations by the Winklevosses he had failed to pay almost $1 million in restitution to the state as part of his plea deal.
This, Klein continues, is also incorrect, countering:
“The true facts are that Shrem paid a portion of the money owed before he knew of the (Winklevosses’) complaint, and is in the process of paying the rest.”
Klein also denounced the idea Shrem had used the 5,000 BTC in question to purchase assets such as cars and property as having “no basis in fact or law.”
Shrem himself has not responded to a request for comment from Cointelegraph sent Nov. 2.
