Tech journalist subpoenaed in ongoing bitcoin lawsuit

A subpoena of journalist Brendan Sullivan for documents and testimony in a federal suit over cryptocurrency holdings was effectively dropped in November 2020 when the parties indicated that Sullivan’s motion to quash it was no longer relevant to the case, according to court filings reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

In August 2019, Sullivan conducted an interview with Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and business owner who claimed to be the creator of bitcoin. The interview addressed an ongoing lawsuit against him by the estate of David Kleiman, Wright’s late business partner, in which Kleiman’s brother claimed that Wright had attempted to steal Kleiman’s bitcoin holdings.

Sullivan then received a subpoena to testify, as well as for all documents and communications between him and Wright. He refused to comply and filed a motion to quash the subpoena, but included an affidavit stating that his August article about the Wright interview accurately reflected their conversation.

In December, Kleiman’s attorneys filed an opposition to Sullivan’s motion to quash, indicating that the subpoena had been narrowed to request only that Sullivan confirm in a deposition that Wright had made the statements attributed to him in the article and that he produce a recording of the interview.

Kleiman’s attorneys also complained that Sullivan had attempted to “turn this process into a sideshow” by tweeting an excerpt of the requested video interview of Wright with the audio replaced by singer Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” an internet joke referred to as “Rickrolling.”

But in November 2020, the parties confirmed to the court that “Brendan Sullivan’s previously filed motion to quash is now moot,” indicating that they no longer sought his testimony or documents. The court accordingly denied the motion as moot. Additional court records indicate that Sullivan was never deposed.

In March 2022, a judgment was entered in favor of Kleiman’s estate; Wright was ordered to pay $100 million plus interest.

In July 2024, Sullivan confirmed to the Tracker via email that he never complied with the subpoena. “Death before dishonor!” he wrote. “I never turned over a thing.”

Sullivan’s attorney also told the Tracker via email in July 2024 that the motion to quash became moot because the Court did not rule on it before the discovery phase of the case closed, and the plaintiff used up his allotted number of depositions on other witnesses.

Editor's Note: The incident data associated with this report has been updated to reflect that the subpoena had originally sought Sullivan's testimony, as well as documents and communications.