Mt.Gox: Former Operator of Bitcoin exchange in Tokyo Sentenced

Mark Karpelès was found guilty. The former operator of the once largest bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox stood in front of a court in Tokyo. Due to the falsification of records he got a penalty, which is much milder than expected.

It was one of the first major scandals in the Bitcoin community. After Mt.Gox processed 60 percent of Bitcoin's global trading volume in August 2013, the company had to file for bankruptcy on February 28, 2014. Hackers allegedly cracked the largest cryptocurrency trading platform to date. The result: Between 650,000 and 850,000 Bitcoin were missing. However, there were doubts about the official story. Mark Karpèles, operator and co-founder of the stock exchange, was strongly suspected of being behind the sudden disappearance of user deposits.

Punishment for former Bitcoin-Exchange boss turns out milder than expected

Now, barely five years after the bankruptcy, a court in Tokyo has sentenced Mark Karpelès. However, the verdict was much milder than originally expected. Since it was widely believed that he would be convicted for the misappropriation of Bitcoin, many expected a prison sentence of up to ten years. Ultimately, he only has to answer for the falsification of documents. As reported by the Wall Street Journal on March 14, so he was not punished for any embezzlement of user deposits, because this could apparently prove no one.

Thus, Mark Karpelès was sentenced to two years and six months, suspended for four years. If Mark Karpelès does not get into debt during this time, he will be left alone.

More about Mt.Gox

Recently the former Bitcoin exchange takeover plans with the Hollywood kid star Brock Pierce is on. They had the plan to revive Mt.Gox by means of an Initial Coin Offerings. In a relatively large-scale public relations campaign, he announced that so compensate the bounced users. But he would have needed the approval of all shareholders of the stock market, which he did not have. Mark Karpelès then declared his plans as baseless.