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Winklevoss Capital, Charlie Shrem Settle $26 Million Bitcoin Lawsuit

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have settled their case against Charlie Shrem, whom they previously claimed owed them $26 million worth of bitcoin.

shremindicted

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have settled their lawsuit against fellow early bitcoin entrepreneur Charlie Shrem, whom they previously claimed owed them $26 million worth of the cryptocurrency.

In an April 5 court filing, Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the case, explaining that the parties had informed the court they had reached a settlement.

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However, both parties have the right to reopen the cause and proceed to trial within 30 days, or by May 5, "if the settlement is not fully effectuated," the judge wrote.

The terms of the settlement are confidential, Brian Klein, Shrem's lawyer, told CoinDesk.

According to a separate filing by the attorney for the twins' Winklevoss Capital Fund (WCF), the plaintiff in the case, "WCF and Shrem will each bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs. The case will not be reopened."

In a statement provided to CoinDesk, Shrem said:

"From day one, I’ve maintained the allegations are bogus, and they are of course. After their attorney was sanctioned and they were ordered to pay my legal fees twice, we recently reached a confidential resolution, and I’m dismissed from the case. I’m thankful for Brian Klein and my legal team and pleased to have this behind me."

Early days

The Winklevoss brothers had alleged, in their case filed in September of last year, that back in 2012 Shrem had accepted a total of $1 million to buy bitcoin on their behalf and later realized that Shrem had not given them the full value of the amount in bitcoin.

They claimed to be short by roughly 5,000 bitcoin, worth about $26 million at today’s prices.

At the time of the deal in 2012, one bitcoin was worth approximately $12.50.

Before the settlement was reached, Shrem had sought to depose the Winklevosses' attorney, Tyler Meade.

CoinDesk will update this article as more details are obtained.

Dismissal of Winklevoss case against Charlie Shrem by CoinDesk on Scribd

Charlie Shrem image via CoinDesk archives

Marc Hochstein

As Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Features, Opinion, Ethics and Standards, Marc oversees CoinDesk's long-form content, sets editorial policies and acts as the ombudsman for our industry-leading newsroom. He is also spearheading our nascent coverage of prediction markets and helps compile The Node, our daily email newsletter rounding up the biggest stories in crypto. From November 2022 to June 2024 Marc was the Executive Editor of Consensus, CoinDesk's flagship annual event. He joined CoinDesk in 2017 as a managing editor and has steadily added responsibilities over the years. Marc is a veteran journalist with more than 25 years' experience, including 17 years at the trade publication American Banker, the last three as editor-in-chief, where he was responsible for some of the earliest mainstream news coverage of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. DISCLOSURE: Marc holds BTC above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000; marginal amounts of ETH, SOL, XMR, ZEC, MATIC and EGIRL; an Urbit planet (~fodrex-malmev); two ENS domain names (MarcHochstein.eth and MarcusHNYC.eth); and NFTs from the Oekaki (pictured), Lil Skribblers, SSRWives, and Gwar collections.

Marc Hochstein