Good report!
I disagree with the assessment that no progress has been made. It may be less than what the creditors expected, but is more than what I expected. Even simple bankruptcy procedures are slow, and this one is quite unusual and complicated. Kobayashi must folow legal procedures at every step, document his actions and other people's reactions, give sufficient time for formal replies...
I find it quite encouraging that Kobayashi is actively trying to get back the money that Mark took:
Karpeles and his companies are seemingly not giving the $13 million back that they took from MtGox. [ ... ] After pressure from Kobayashi to repay he now says he will try to repay it after he raises the funds. [ ... ] His company Shade 3D which owes $3m has provided a repayment plan which Kobayashi didn't accept, in other words Karpeles would not agree to pay it back in any acceptable way. [ ... ] If they don't produce a better plan they will be forced into bankruptcy by Kobayashi. [ ... ] The Bitcoin Cafe owes around $550,000 but there is a dispute with the amount and now a petition to bankrupt the company has been filed. [ ... ] Karpeles has a personal “loan” of around $1.2 million from MtGox, and he has not provided a replayment plan. In other words it doesn't seem like he's planning to pay it back. So Kobayashi will take legal action if this continues.
I guess that the "legal action" in the last sentence would be criminal charges for fraudulent management (when managers spend lots of company money on their own salaries, or in other ways that will end up in their pockets, while creditors are unpaid). In that case his personal properties will be seized and auctioned (as they did with Madoff).
On the other hand, it is indeed likely that most of that money was spent and cannot be recovered. Unless Mark, threatened with jail time, suddenly "finds another old format bitcoin wallet that he had forgotten about"
My reading is also that Kobayashi and the consultants that he hired are working hard enough, trying to make sense of MtGOX's database and other records. AFAIK, this was the first reliable confirmation ever that the database was compromised. Another reason to expect that mark will face criminal proceedings.
Kobayashi also said they don't think it's weird to be getting help from Karpeles. [ ... ] The fact is that the data should have been signed over to a 3rd party at the very beginning.
Kobayashi already said that the all files were secured as soon as he could, with the help of experts from Fujitsu, and copies were given to the consultants. Mark and/or other employees may have doctored the records before the trustee took over, but I do not see any danger that he could alter or erase anything now.
It is quite natural to interrogate the management of a failed company about its operations, and the organization and meaning of its records. Those statements are usually taken under oath, so Mark would face additional criminal charges (perjury, contempt of court, obstruction of justice...) if he were caught lying or trying to sidetrack the investigation. However, depending on the local laws, he may have the right to refuse to provide information that would incriminate himsef.
Kobayashi said that they regard them as separate companies and we might think it's illegal to keep the companies separate but it isn't.
Unfortunately, creating multi-layer companies is a standard trick that sleazy entrepreneurs often use to dodge the laws. Thus they can let debts, liabilities, and unpaid taxes pile up in one company, which is destined for bankruptcy, while transferring its revenue to the other company.
For the purposes of bankruptcy, and perhaps other civil proceedings, Tibanne is just another company that provided services to MtGOX. While MtGOX was insolvent and, for that reason, had to be liquidated, Tibanne is doing pretty well and has no debts. I guess that this shielding will be ineffective if Mark (not MtGOX) is charged with fraudulent management ("piercing the corporate veil").
On the other hand, I was disappointed by the lack of any questions about the accounting method that will be used to define the claim of each client. Is everybody still assuming that his claim is just his final MtGOX account balance? There may be unwelcome surprises there.
Finally, I cannot stop thinking that some of the alleged victims may in fact be accomplices -- e.g. clients who got non-existent coins and/or money credited to their accounts. The database may have been doctored to hide fraudulent trading and accounting.
