Japan seeks ten-year-term for ex-MtGox bitcoin chief: media

Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a 10-year jail term for the former head of collapsed bitcoin exchange MtGox, local media reported.

France-born Mark Karpeles, 33, faces charges that he fraudulently manipulated data and pocketed millions of dollars’ worth of the virtual currency.

The Tokyo-based exchange – once the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange – collapsed in 2014 after cryptocurrency worth half a billion dollars disappeared from its virtual vaults, a mystery that remains unsolved.

Karpeles faces charges that he embezzled about 340 million yen ($3 million) and altered other data related to MtGox, and went on trial in the case last July.

But those charges are not directly related to how MtGox lost 850,000 coins – worth around $480 million at the time.

Tokyo prosecutors argue that Karpeles’s alleged acts “were extremely vicious, as they completely undermined confidence in trading,” according to national broadcaster NHK.

He has denied the charges and has previously told the court: “I swear to God I am not guilty,” reading out a prepared statement in Japanese, according to Kyodo News.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office declined to confirm the reports and refrained from commenting on when the trial was expected to finish. In Japanese courts, the verdict and sentence are often handed down at the same time.

MtGox was shuttered in 2014 after admitting the massive disappearance of the coins. The company initially said there was a bug in the software underpinning bitcoins that allowed hackers to steal them. (AFP)