Former Mt Gox Ex-CEO Accused Of Embezzlement, Prosecutors Want 10 Year Jail Term

Mark Karpeles, the CEO of Mt Gox, is currently being accused of embezzlement by Japanese authorities. The prosecutors of the court case are seeking a 10-year sentence for the ex-CEO, which commanded the now-defunct Mt Gox exchange.

Reports from the local media outlet The Mainichi affirm that the prosecutors of the Tokyo District Court claim that the ex-CEO used the funds of the customers for his personal use, something that is now allowed by the Japanese law. According to the report, he transferred about $3 million USD from the accounts of the customers to his own at the end of 2013.

The money was allegedly used for investments that were of this personal interest. He is also been accused of manipulating the data on the trading system of Mt Gox, which ended up corroding the confidence of the users on the platform.

About the data manipulation, he is accused of manipulating the data so the trading system has padded the balance of the exchange. About the embezzlement, he talks that it was only a “temporary loan”, however, there is no paperwork that can prove this claim at all, which is understood as that there was no intention of ever paying the clients back.

Some of the money was used to invest in a 3D printer business and to purchase a canopy bed. He was even accused of spending the money on prostitutes.

During 2017, when the case was first being judged, the ex-CEO pleaded not guilty to the charges of embezzlement and data manipulations, as he denied that the accusations were the truth. He has apologized for the bankruptcy, though, affirming that he “never imagined things would end this way” and stating that he was sorry for all the involved.

Mt Gox was hacked in early 2014 and it lost most of its money. It filed for liquidation in April 2014 because of the hack, which stole 850,000 BTC from the company. Now, the company is in the process of civil rehabilitation and it intends to pay out the clients. The ex-CEO was not connected to the hack in any way, though. However, the investigations were started because of the hack.

The ex-CEO is currently confined to Japan as a condition of his bail and has been answering in freedom. He has often protested his innocence and publicly appealed to the industry.

At the moment, there is no information of when the trial will be finished.

It should be noted that some of the problems of the ex-CEO of Mt Gox are outside of Japan. A lawsuit was filed against him in the United States, too, also by the clients of the exchange. He complains that the U. S. had no jurisdiction over Mt Gox.

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