Karpeles' Fraud History [WE ARE CONNECTING THE DOTS AT:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=492776.0;all]
http://gawker.com/does-mt-goxs-ceo-have-a-secret-history-of-online-payme-1534752110"In the wake of Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox announcing that it lost $473 million worth of the virtual currency, many people who saw their money disappear have called for CEO Mark Karpeles to be imprisoned. Well, funny thing: it wouldn't necessarily be the first time Karpeles has been arrested for fraud.
As pointed out to Gawker by a tipster who wishes to remain anonymous, Karpeles seems to discuss a past arrest concerning "payment systems on the internet" in a 2006 post on his blog Magical Tux. The post, like all on the blog Karpeles links to in his Twitter bio, is in French, but the tipster translated the relevant section on his personal Tumblr:
Indeed, during my misspent youth, I made a huge, huge mistake. Enough silliness that I found myself locked into custody and brought temporarily placed in the "mousetrap" (souricière: possibly "n.f. (pol.): 'Baited trap' laid by the forces of law-and-order."). This was followed by an investigation of more than a year, which eventually ended in a trial.
I will not give too much detail about what I did wrong, just say it concerns payment systems on the Internet. I spent two years taking risks becoming larger, perhaps because it was an exciting side … whatever, I ended up getting arrested (in rather bizarre circumstances, noting that when I was arrested, I was just in a police station to file a complaint for something else). Anyway, I was released four days later and placed under "judicial review". Basically I did not have the right to leave France and I had to go regularly to the courthouse to speak to someone who was going to see if I lived in "the right way".
...
In the end, the trial was not concluded too bad for me (3 months suspended sentence disappearing after 5 years, and nothing in the criminal record).
A Google translate for the blog post returns the same story, albeit in less smooth English.
According to Karpeles' blog post, the fallout from this "huge, huge mistake" is why he eventually migrated to Japan, where he now lives. There is almost no evidence of Karpeles' possible past arrest on the internet, perhaps because, as the blog post claims, his sentence would have been wiped from records somewhere around two years ago.
But a recent story in the French paper Le Journal de Sâone et Loire, that includes quotes from Karpeles' mother Anne, says that after starting an IT company in Paris, Karpeles left the city after being caught committing "computer fraud." This small tidbit was noticed by Reddit's Bitcoin forum, but has not yet trickled up to the media until now.
If Karpeles does have a history of committing fraud, it doesn't necessarily mean that he did anything wrong legally or morally with Mt. Gox's Bitcoins. But it probably won't make the people out $473 million sleep any easier.
The Bitcoin community will surely learn a number of lessons from the Mt. Gox disaster, and here is a simple one: when investing in Bitcoin, make sure the guy you're trusting with your money doesn't have a secret past committing fraud. Even if that means finding someone who knows French."
Here is additional relevant and related back-story:
http://www.lejsl.com/saone-et-loire/2014/03/01/un-qi-superieur-a-la-moyenne [the translation is pretty bad]
Before talking to him in the world Mark Karpeles grew up in Dijon. His mother tells the journey of this computer genius.
The man who is now the most hated Internet has boiled teenager. A chubby face "geek" who scares anyone. And yet, this young 28 year old man born in Chenôve is now the target of all fantasies on the internet. Friday, after disappearing for three days, Mark Karpeles admitted to losing the $ 480 million that were stored in virtual currency on its site, MtGox. More than one million users have lost small fortunes in history.
A higher IQ than the average
If apologized, Mark Karpeles still remains in the sights of Japanese and U.S. authorities. The disappearance of that could be fraudulent. Nothing to worry his mother, contacted Friday and an impressive calm on the phone. "I know that Mark will do what it takes. If it is hidden for three days, it's just to gain strength and confront what awaits "says the Dijon now based in Switzerland. "And if he was really worried he would have called me. "
If Anne Karpeles talks about his son as if nothing had happened "for two minutes" that have lasted 15, the scandal generated by Mark resounding. However, the course of Mark Karpeles is nothing that a highwayman able to disappear in a few days, as he did Monday. Born in Chenôve in 1985, Mark Karpeles lived his early years in Côte-d'Or, with his mother, a geologist. He attended school Chevreul, lives in the city center of Dijon and already passionate about IT. "I think we did our first program together, Dijon, when he was 10 years old. "
Because the boy is early. An IQ test diagnostic her intelligence above average. "But there was no effort at school," laughs his mother, not stressed by the ordeals by his son. "I made him do the cooking, sewing, sport, but he mostly hung with computers. "At the point of becoming a genius, even if Anne Karpeles not pronounce the word. "Admittedly, it is not bad in the kitchen either. By cons, it can barely sew on a button (laughs). "A computer genius who, baccalaureate - got to Paris, where his mother had moved - begins in an IT company in Paris. He left the capital a little faster, accused, according to our information, computer fraud. He moved to Japan, where he bought in 2011 MtGox. It is the platform number 1 of Bitcoin. Until February 7, when the first bug, the site managed 80% of global Bitcoin transactions. Suffice to say it was worth a fortune. Today, Mark Karpeles, is accused by the Internet community to be incompetent - at best - or a crook. Nothing to worry his mother who, unlike his son, a young dad, kept ties in Côte-d'Or. "The last time I went to visit him in Japan, its website had been attacked. He solved the problem overnight, "says Anne Karpeles. "I'm sure it will still succeed this time. "Before starting, a knowing smile, a lapidary:" And $ 480 million is what we see when playing with what states and financiers. "
For the background, see the little guy Chenôve now married to a Japanese attacked on all sides, Anne Karpeles expected. "The computer world is hard. And when we know how the Bitcoin angry central banks, governments, one can understand that my son disturbed. "At the point of today find themselves propelled to the front of the stage. Not bad for the former shy child the Rue Neuve-Bergère de Dijon."
