Do we know if this has been served on Gox yet?

Thanks, I've amended the original post. I'm interested in their Japanese law firm who would represent them in an action in Japan.

Does anyone know which Japanese law firm has been representing Mt. Gox?

Nagle - would you be willing to repost your original under Legal. I think it might get more of the attention it deserves there.

I agree this is the best option now for all parties. If Mt. Gox is solvent, they can then prove it to the court and continue with their merger/re-branding plans.

Yes, but why couldn't they have put this up last night instead of a blank page. The PR incompetence knows no bounds.

Another possible explanation of the recent Mt. Gox problems occurs:

Could it be that they were just served today with papers regarding a lawsuit with an injunction, or an involuntary bankruptcy. This combined with a perhaps petulant reaction by Mark Karpeles?

Many commentators here have complained for a long time about the continued trading for a long time in the presence slowed or absent withdrawals.

An injunction or involuntary bankruptcy proceedings might well require immediate suspension of trading. Additionally, there may have been part of an order demanding the removal of the misleading (at best) statements on the front page.

And if you were going to skip town, why call attention to it by suspending the website?

And in any case, it looks like the people who are going to file this suit are going to file it, so debates here are likely not going to affect that.

The appropriate settlement in the case of property owed is fair market value. That's pretty standard in a legal settlement. I agree there is some subtlety there with BTC, but I have more faith in the bankruptcy court figuring it out eventually and fairly (it will take some time) than I do in Mt. Gox at this point.

Very good to know. Thanks for putting that up. It looks like it may be the quickest and cheapest way to get some supervision for them.

The main point of a criminal prosecution is to be the company in the hands of someone else. A court-appointed individual. While that may be slow, very slow, it would at least likely have some accounting done.

Probably best to attack them on both the civil and criminal fronts simultaneously. I'm not a fan of regulation, as it borders on prior restraint, though I certainly think we should bring all legal means to bear once the crime or tort has been committed.

Is it explained properly for a new user who creates an account and then sells some bitcoin, expecting to receive the proceeds? I believe that will be the question before the court in determining if there is a fraudulent inducement. Maybe I missed it, but the last time I looked there was not even a mention of the manual withdrawal and 5% fee on the main withdrawal process pages.

Those of us who read the forums or the IRC may discover these things, but those don't strike me as reasonable disclosure.

A very interesting post by Prof. Lenz on how Mt. Gox may be a bank under Japanese law, and therefore subject to possible significant criminal penalties:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1ylnso/has_mtgox_already_reported_to_the_japanese_prime/

Some running an exchange this incompetently shouldn't be on the board of the Bitcoin Foundation.

Please everyone sign the petition: https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/petition-to-remove-mark-karpeles-from-the-board-of-the-bitcoin-foundation

It doesn't cost anything and only takes a few moments of your time.

Please everyone, sign the petition. Someone running an exchange this badly shouldn't be on the board.

The delays in fiat withdrawals continue, particularly for USD. Since these are not properly disclosed (or even the need to pay the 5% fee for a "manual withdrawal") on the website, I think one could go ahead other incidental damages and certainly interest on the amounts involved for the length of the delay.

The fraud-like aspects, not properly disclosing, could be strong grounds for additional damages (at least if Japanese law is similar to the US in this regard).

Please continue the lawsuit. They need to pay damages for the delays and it will serve as a warning to others.

Absolutely right. The evidence of his competence, or lack thereof, is abundantly clear!

I think the more effective thing is legal action, both civil and criminal. This incompetence has gone on long enough now.

I would say the fact that it is still not working is just a sign of ongoing incompetence. Seems they will be in legal trouble soon enough though.

Yes, exchanges need to know that if they continue with this type of incompetence and with large sums, eventually people will take legal action and force them to behave reasonably.

I will donate to help defray costs.