Mark Karpelès, Chief Executive Officer of the defunct bitcoin exchange MtGox, has been sentenced by a Japanese court to two years and six months in prison after concluding the trial against him for the infamous MtGox scandal.
Mark Karpeles. CEO Mt.Gox. courtesy: Daily Dot
The CEO of Mt. Gox claimed throughout the entire trial that he was completely innocent. With this sentence, his image is left partially clean as the court only found him guilty of tampering with records by the Tokyo District Court.
The court found him not guilty of the remaining charges which could bring his sentence up to ten years. The panel of judges determined that Karpeles had not committed embezzlement or violated the Company law.
The outcome of the trial is a victory for Karpeles on a personal level; however, it does not mean that the story is over. The proceedings related to MtGox’s bankruptcy continue regardless of the fate of its CEO.
According to the Financial Times, Mark Karpeles showed his respect to the judges, and although he did not make any statements, his humble reaction seems to indicate his satisfaction with the results of this legal challenge:
“Mr. Karpelès, wearing a dark suit, bowed to the judge as he entered the courtroom.”
The Financial Times, Mr. Karpeles’ prison sentence “was suspended for four years,” according to a pooled press report.
To date, there have been no reactions from Mr. Karpeles or any of his spokespersons or the Exchange’s. It is hoped that more information on the case will be available in the next few hours.
According to BNNBloomberg, Mr. Karpeles’ stay in Japan was not at all pleasant:
“Karpeles has said he was interrogated for months without a lawyer and bullied into signing a confession, a “nightmare” process during which he lost 77 pounds over 11 months.
The MtGox case represents the strongest scandal in the history of crypto. At the time, the exchange controlled more than 70% of the total volume of trading of crypto coins worldwide, according to Wikipedia.
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