Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles found guilty of electronic tampering but cleared of embezzlement charges

• Mt. Gox used to be the biggest crypto exchange in the world until they got hacked for $500 million worth of bitcoins in 2014.
• The Tokyo District Court gave Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence and cleared him of embezzlement charges.

Mark Karpeles, the former chief of the now-defunct Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, won a non-guilty verdict on embezzlement charges but was found guilty of electronic tampering. The Tokyo District Court has given him a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence, which means he won’t have to serve jail time unless he commits another violation within the next four years.

Mt. Gox used to be the biggest crypto exchange in the world until they lost $500 million worth of bitcoins in 2014. Karpeles was indicted on a host of charges and has been on trial for embezzlement since 2017. Karpeles’ lawyers wrote in their final argument to the court:  

“Mt. Gox did not collapse because of the defendant’s [Karpeles’] wrongdoing. On the contrary, the defendant was trying his hardest every day to prevent its collapse.”