Karpeles the former CEO of Mt.Gox Exchange was found guilty of manipulating the financial records of the Mt. Gox exchange. But served with a suspended jail term reports Bloomberg.
Tokyo District Court notes that Karpeles was found guilty of tampering with the company financial records alongside his own personal affairs. However he was released on the grounds that he acted with no ill intent. Because there was no evidence to the charge against him. He was suspended for 2 1/2 years which he won’t serve until he is found guilt of another violations within the next four years. The 33 year old Frenchman was however blamed of causing harm to her users owing to the fact, he is an engineer. Who has an expert knowledge of the technology behind his platform. Which he might have used to perform some criminal acts. But still, there is no evidence as to the charges of embezzlement of funds leveled against him. It was reported that 850,000 Bitcoin worth over $500 million was lost by Mt.Gox during the 2014 hack on the exchange.
“The charge of electronic record tampering is true and deserves punishment, but there’s no criminal evidence of embezzlement,” the court said in its verdict.
The reports released by Karpeles after the hack brought mistrust on investors who use the exchange. The court later found out that the report was tampered with in part as in regards to the amount lost. Because 200,000 of the total bitcoins lost was claimed to have been recovered by the exchange. Moreover, exchange had releasesd 60,000 bitcoins to be used in refunding her users for the loss. Mark Karpeles who bought Mt.Gox in 2011 had made it a dominant place for buying and selling virtual currencies until it’s shut down in 2014.
Since then, Karpeles had pleaded innocence. He has publicly denied involving in the loss of the bitcoins as in regards to the hack on the exchange. He had said in a recent reddit post on March 8 2019 “I am not going to prison”. Karpeles had also complained of unfair treatment from Japan justice system. He claimed he was forced to sign a confession and also interrogated without a lawyer for four months. A situation he claimed was dangerous to his health.
