Is it time to start organising large scale legal action against MtGox?

[thelema93]

As I wrote in July 2013:

How to apply pressure to Mt. Gox to pay up.

There are ways to do this. I don't have any money with them, but I've had to do international collections before, for amounts in high six figures, and I got paid.

Here are some options:

• Sue in Delaware. Mt. Gox has a legal presence in the U.S., in Delaware, as a result of their FinCen filing. So Mt. Gox can be sued there. Delaware has Justice of the Peace courts with jurisdiction up to $15,000. They even have online filing, although you may have to go to Delaware for the trial. Mt. Gox will either have to send someone to trial, or lose by default. You still have to collect on the judgement, but there are ways to do that.
• Hire a collection agency in Japan. This isn't easy across the language barrier, but it's possible. Search with Google for 債権回収サービス ("Debt collection service"). It's useful to use Google Chrome with automatic translation enabled for this. Find a service that mentions that they do commercial collections, not just consumer collections. Here's the Japan Ministry of Justice's list of registered debt collection agencies.. There are ones that are not registered, but some are just Yazuka goons. (Although that might work, this is going to be a high-profile collection, and they don't want the visibility.) There are U.S. companies which claim they can collect in Japan, but most don't actually have a presence in Japan. Unless a US company has a Tokyo office of their own, they're probably wasting your time. The normal deal is that the collection agency gets a cut of what they collect, but you don't pay anything up front.
• Raise hell in the financial press. Start calling reporters who have written stories about Bitcoin. Call Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Not just email - call them. Use words like "default" when talking to them.
• File a complaint with the Japan Ministry of Finance under the Payment Services Act. Whether Mt. Gox likes it or not, they fall under the Payment Services Act in Japan, which regulates non-bank money transfer services. Japan has many such services; most of the cell phone companies offer money transfer, for example. They're required to maintain 100% of customer funds in a separate account, and the Financial Services Agency can audit this. The place to start is a Japanese consulate in the US or the Japan External Trade Organization. One of the major functions of consulates, especially ones of countries with big export trade, is to tell people how to deal with cross-border commercial problems.

If Mt. Gox owes you a substantial amount of money, you can make them pay. You don't have to put up with their nonsense. They do not get to determine when and whether they pay up. It doesn't work that way in the real world.

It's easier to do this now than it was months ago, because there's been so much press coverage of Mt. Gox's problems. You have a lot less explaining to do.

For US persons owed less than $15K, the Delaware Justice of the Peace court looks like an excellent option. It's cheap, it's in the US, and Mt. Gox has to send someone from Japan or they lose by default. You don't need a lawyer, although getting some legal advice on filing would be a good idea. If you win, you have a judgment against Mt. Gox, which you still have to collect. You can sell that judgment to a collection agency for a discount, and you can publicize it. You can apply enough pain to Mt. Gox that you'll get paid.

Thanks for that INFO.

HERE is a list of ENGLISH SPEAKING LAWYERS IN JAPAN:

http://www.nzembassy.com/japan/new-zealanders-overseas/living-japan/legal-advice-and-list-lawyers

[V4Vendettas]

In Japan, only the lawyer can collect a debits on behalf of a creditor.

Can anyone confirm or refute this ?

Sorry for the spelling its a cut and paste.

[Nagle]

quote author=Nagle link=topic=469428.msg5186276#msg5186276 date=1392587488]
As I wrote in July 2013:

How to apply pressure to Mt. Gox to pay up.

There are ways to do this. I don't have any money with them, but I've had to do international collections before, for amounts in high six figures, and I got paid.

Here are some options:

....

That list was for when they were still operating. At this point, forcing Mt. Gox into involuntary bankruptcy in Japan is the way to go. That takes control away from Mt. Gox management in about two weeks and puts the assets under the control of a receiver. Someone on this board claims they're already doing that.