Former Mt Gox CEO claims innocence as embezzlement trial nears end

Mt Gox collapsed in early 2014 following the revelation it had lost over 800,000 Bitcoin. Since then, Karpeles hasn’t been able to avoid the headlines.

The 33-year-old is currently on trial at the Tokyo District Court. He does not find himself in the dock for the loss of the Bitcoin, however, but rather accusations that he moved 340 million yen ($3 million) from Mt Gox into his personal bank account, as well as manipulating the data on the exchange.

Accusations against Karpeles also state that he manipulated data on Mt Gox’s trading system to inflate the exchange’s balances. His legal team has claimed “the transfer of the money to his own account was carried out as part of the exchange’s business.”

The trial began in June this year, following Karpeles’ release on bail in 2017 with the condition that he does not leave Japan.

Karpeles allegedly took the cash from the exchange to invest in a “software developing business.” According to Mainichi, a Japanese news outlet, he was originally facing five years in prison, but this has since been increased to ten.

He has apologised for his failure to protect users’ cryptocurrency from hacking, but stressed he was not guilty of all charges against him. The court is expected to reach a verdict on 15th March 2019.