We’ve talked about Mt. Gox CEO’s arrest in the past, when he was taken into custody by the Japanese authorities, and charged with a couple of accusations such as money laundering and more. If you do not recall, last month, Mark Karpeles was arrested by police in Tokyo, 17 months after his exchange filed for bankruptcy and had tens of millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin in losses. The man is also suspected of moving money from the exchange’s accounts into his own pocket.
Well, the latest reports indicate that Japanese prosecutors have just charged Karpeles with embezzling the money of his clients. If convicted on this accusation, he might have up to 10 years in prison. Judging by the fact that Japan has a 99% conviction rate, it is highly likely that he will spend his next years locked up in a Japanese prison. What’s surprising is the fact that Karpeles is still denying all of the accusations, and simply stating that he had nothing to do with the embezzlement of the funds.
In a press statement, he said that: “While I believe I did everything I could do to prevent this from happening, it still happened”. Unsurprisingly, not many people believe his claim. In fact, a study has shown that the large majority of the Bitcoin market who are aware of this scandal suspect him of the wrongdoing. When his exchange filed for bankruptcy, it was declared that over 850,000 bitcoins were lost, 200,000 of which were later found by him.
Hopefully, the Japanese authorities will soon release more information about their ongoing investigation.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, what do you think about the accusations that Karpeles faces so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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