FinanceFeeds yesterday reported that a motion to stay a US lawsuit against Mark Karpeles in light of an indictment in Japan was denied by the Illinois Northern District Court on Feb 28, 2019. The former Mt.Gox clients Gregory Greene and Anthony Motto seek to hold Karpeles personally liable for any losses from their investments in bitcoin on the Mt.Gox exchange. Mt.Gox officially filed for liquidation in April 2014 after claiming to have been hacked for 850,000 bitcoins, although some bitcoin were later found in a wallet.
Karpeles is confronted with an indictment in Japan. Prosecutors are seeking a 10-year sentence for using about $3 million of customers’ funds for his personal use, among other allegations. In his closing arguments in a Tokyo court in December 2018, Karpeles restated his innocence in the case, CoinDesk reported. The exchange’s former CEO already spent nearly a year in a Japanese jail and is awaiting trial in a country with a 99% conviction rate.
According to Karpeles, with the recovery of a significant amount of lost bitcoins and the rise in the value of bitcoins the U.S. plaintiffs and other former Mt.Gox clients will most likely obtain a full recovery anyway.
