Karpeles Acquited - wtf?

[RawDog]

Can you believe he got off scot-free.

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[figmentofmyass]

Can you believe he got off scott-free.

he didn't exactly get off scot-free. he already served a year prison sentence in 2015-16 for the volume manipulation charges. i remember he lost like a hundred pounds in those days, looked all skinny when he got out.

the charges he just beat were for embezzlement---it really doesn't seem like he was guilty of that.

[RawDog]

he didn't exactly get off scot-free.

When you are a dumb-ass and lose $500 million of other people's money - no matter the charges, if you are alive and kicking you got off scot-free.

[Baofeng]

https://twitter.com/ynakamura56

Some very rough translations: "We find the charge of electronic record tampering to be true and that it deserves punishment, but there's no criminal evidence re embezzlement (dominant or reserve type) or violations of company laws, resulting in a not guilty ruling."

So that's what the court says as per that twitter account, its interesting to note that they didn't find any evidence of Karpeles looting or misappropriation of  funds. Initially though he says 2.5 years, but since he already served time, I guess yeah, we can call say that he is 'scot-free'.

[StackGambler]

he didn't exactly get off scot-free.

When you are a dumb-ass and lose $500 million of other people's money - no matter the charges, if you are alive and kicking you got off scot-free.

You also have to keep in mind that the law takes into account intent. There's a big difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, speaking legally. It is indeed terrible that he lost such a large amount, but if he didn't steal it, or if it happened to him rather than because of him, I understand the reduced punishment.

[eternalgloom]

It's extremely weird that he was acquitted, especially when you hear that Japan has a conviction rate of around 99%.

This is an unprecedented case given that the Japanese prosecutors are very powerful and the country’s conviction rate is 99.8 percent. Karpeles told CNN that he was ‘happy’ to be judged not guilty for the most serious charges.

Source: https://u.today/mt-gox-ceo-mark-karpeles-not-going-to-jail-after-being-acquitted-of-most-charges

Don't know what I think of it, in the end he did already serve some time, as @figmentofmyass mentions.
I just hope he doesn't start a new exchange now, let's hope his name is at least forever tarnished.

[BitHodler]

When you are a dumb-ass and lose $500 million of other people's money - no matter the charges, if you are alive and kicking you got off scot-free.

Correct. It pays off to mess up like that. Who doesn't want to rot in prison for such a short period of time knowing that you have a stash worth hundreds of millions sitting somewhere securing your future.

Life is unfair. It wouldn't even surprise me if this fat fuck launches another service in the coming years. Maybe he is already major shareholder in whatever service but we don't know it yet, which is the scary part.

Don't leave your funds on centralized platforms peeps....

[franky1]

i guessed right

because he has been in detention centres in the last 5 years... im guessing he will be given a sentence of 'time served'

[figmentofmyass]

he didn't exactly get off scot-free.

When you are a dumb-ass and lose $500 million of other people's money - no matter the charges, if you are alive and kicking you got off scot-free.

he didn't lose anywhere close to that much money. the keys were stolen in late 2011 when bitcoin was worth a tiny fraction of the prices in feb 2014.

i've lost coins to exchange "hacks". it was my own fault for storing coins there. trusting someone else to hold your coins is always a huge risk. that was well known long before gox went down. sounds like you're giving all the people using mt gox as a bitcoin wallet a pass.

karpeles was a shitty php coder running a mostly one-man show at gox, an exchange that had been slow-paying fiat withdrawals for at least 6 months before it went down. anyone continuing to store money there sort of had it coming tbh. there were so many obvious red flags.

Correct. It pays off to mess up like that. Who doesn't want to rot in prison for such a short period of time knowing that you have a stash worth hundreds of millions sitting somewhere securing your future.

lol, spoken like someone who has never served any time.

what makes you think mark has the coins?

[RawDog]

what makes you think mark has the coins?

What makes you think he doesn't?

[xWolfx]

Correct. It pays off to mess up like that. Who doesn't want to rot in prison for such a short period of time knowing that you have a stash worth hundreds of millions sitting somewhere securing your future.

Life is unfair. It wouldn't even surprise me if this fat fuck launches another service in the coming years. Maybe he is already major shareholder in whatever service but we don't know it yet, which is the scary part.

Don't leave your funds on centralized platforms peeps....

I mean, i have been in a really shitty place for some years now and i don't have my financial freedom secured for the future.

I agree with you, that period in a regular prison to have your whole life solved is a pretty good trade-off. And i'm pretty sure a lot of people would be willing to take if they would be sure of it.

And that is also the lesson learned, watch carefully where you leave your funds.

[Indamuck]

what makes you think mark has the coins?

What makes you think he doesn't?

I'm sure he does and I'm sure he threw around some bribe money to get off on his charges.   Crypto is awesome but it is a criminal's playground.  This guy saw an easy exit scam opportunity and took it.

[BurgerCash]

I mean he never stole any of the bitcoins, he was just stupid enough to buy an exchange that had previously been robbed.
Not as silly as people who invest in the person who made the exchange vulnerable - Jed Mccaleb, founder of Stellar.

[cryptomaster420]

he didn't exactly get off scot-free.

When you are a dumb-ass and lose $500 million of other people's money - no matter the charges, if you are alive and kicking you got off scot-free.

He didn't lose the money. The previous owner did. Karpeles was just the guy stupid enough to buy an exchange from a scammer like the Stellar creator.

[dothebeats]

I just hope he doesn't start a new exchange now, let's hope his name is at least forever tarnished.

Oh boy, he can potentially create any crypto service he likes now given that he is already acquitted most of the charges and have his time served on detention centers and prison. For starters, this is just his reputation 'cleansed,' but I think many would still not believe or trust this guy given the severity of the Mt. Gox hack. There should be some sort of ruling where Karpeles wouldn't be allowed to involve himself on creating such services centered on cryptocurrencies for X amount of years--at least to ensure that he would not misappropriate any funds again. But then again, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[iparktur]

what makes you think mark has the coins?

What makes you think he doesn't?

Hi RawDog  !
I can not send a message to you in PM
You can answer me in PM

[CryptoBry]

It's extremely weird that he was acquitted, especially when you hear that Japan has a conviction rate of around 99%.

This is an unprecedented case given that the Japanese prosecutors are very powerful and the country’s conviction rate is 99.8 percent. Karpeles told CNN that he was ‘happy’ to be judged not guilty for the most serious charges.

Source: https://u.today/mt-gox-ceo-mark-karpeles-not-going-to-jail-after-being-acquitted-of-most-charges

Don't know what I think of it, in the end he did already serve some time, as @figmentofmyass mentions.
I just hope he doesn't start a new exchange now, let's hope his name is at least forever tarnished.

Well, in the world of traditional business no matter if it is very corrupt just like the government, I don't think he can have the same chance like before in getting the trust and confidence of the people as we are talking here of money. Maybe he can start another business that does not involved other people's money so he can redeem himself. In the world of legalities, there will always be instances where the decisions can be hard to swallow but that is the law...if there can be enough evidence to convict a person then there is no choice but to let the person go anyway he had already served some time incarcerated. This should be serving a BIG LESSON to all people involved in the same industry he was in...

[alisafidel58]

This should be serving a BIG LESSON to all people involved in the same industry he was in...

And what lesson would that be? You can get away from stealing others people money through cryptocurrency because it's hard to trace?

[Beerwizzard]

I'm sure he does and I'm sure he threw around some bribe money to get off on his charges.   Crypto is awesome but it is a criminal's playground.  This guy saw an easy exit scam opportunity and took it.

I'm just curious. What makes you think that he bribed someone? The only thing that you are not agree with the court doesn't mean that he bribed someone. And no one told (and proved) that he stole that money.
If some money were lost in his company then it doesn't mean that he is guilty by default.