Sorry to hear about your loss mate, the way bitfinex has gone about this is not morally right in my opinion. Even if i had btc stolen in the hack i would still not feel right about others having to cover my loss instead of the company that lost it in the first place due to their lax storage methods.
Im no lawyer but if 99.9% of your holding were in cash and not involved or loss during the hack then you should not receive a 36% haircut to compensate others.
What legal right if any does the company have to do this?
I asked them that myself. Tech support has yet to respond. It was horrible. I was desperately trying to get my funds out as my father has had a life-threatening medical emergency. I was buying a little BTC at a time, transferring it stateside and selling it to minimize exchange rate volatility risk. I didn't even get half of it out before the shutdown. Now it's frozen and money I really need (neither one of my parents can work while Dad is undergoing treatment) is unavailable, possibly forever.
What also worries me is the price action prior to the shutdown. It sure looks like somebody knew what was coming and was trading on inside information.
I have an awful feeling of Déjà vu. There are so many similarities with EmptyGox. These guys don't seem to have any idea how fucked they are or how permanent the damage is. No investors will save them. Their brand now has negative equity. The cops won't recover the stolen funds. Bitcoin was specifically designed to be untouchable by governments. The one response I got from Tech support promised me everything will be okay if we are just patient. It could have been written by Karpeles himself. The denial is so obvious, It's like MagicalTux took his dessert coffee and moved to Hong Kong. I got my BTC out of Gox just before the door slammed shut, but my dad, the guy I talked into investing, was not so lucky. My dad is suffering because he trusted me, and I let him down. I let him down because I trusted Gox and BFX.
I need to compile a list of victims so I can start the search for legal representation. If there is already a list, I need to know where so I can add my name.