Former Mt.Gox CEO Draws Parallels Between Himself And SBF

Mark Karpeles, the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has reacted to FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried’s persistent request to be released to prepare for his trial. 

Karpeles stated that he used a conventional calculator to store documents while preparing for his trial. 

Only A Calculator At Hand 

Mt Gox was a former Bitcoin exchange that was based in Japan. Karpeles, the former CEO, took to Twitter to share the story of his arrest and how he prepared for his trial, drawing comparisons with Bankman-Fried. In a tweet on X, Karpeles explained at length how he worked with nothing but a simple calculator when preparing for his trial. The former Mt. Gox CEO explained that he used the calculator to store all important documents related to his case. These documents eventually led to his release after he was cleared of all embezzlement charges. Karpeles stated on X, 

“When I was arrested back in 2015, the most computing power I got was a simple calculator (+-*/√). Had 20000 pages of evidence, including over 5,000 pages of accounting. The calculation I did at the time helped me to earn release under bail and eventually be cleared of all embezzlement & breach of trust charges.”

He also talked about how he organized the documents to help him prepare for trial, adding, 

“I spent a total of 11 months and 15 days in pre-trial detention and didn’t have access to any of the evidence until about 7 to 8 months in. The jail’s store had some label stickers and folders I used to create an index of all the evidence I was sent by my lawyer, and I created a quick 8 pages index listing all the documents found in there by an ID I created at the time including the number of pages, who made the document, and which folder it was in.”

Comparison With Sam Bankman-Fried? 

The comments come at a time when Bankman-Fried and his lawyers persistently seek to get the former FTX CEO released to prepare for his trial, arguing that he does not have access to a laptop and an internet connection. However, the request has so far been denied. 

Both founders were accused of embezzlement after their organizations lost billions worth of investor wealth. Bankman-Fried is facing 13 federal charges filed by the United States Department of Justice. These charges include defrauding the United States government. Karpeles stated that he spent over 11 months in pre-trial and did not get access to any evidence until about 7-8 months into his imprisonment. 

According to Karpeles, he was arrested because the government found his company to have made $12 million in earnings while he spent $15 million. As a result, the government immediately accused him of foul play. 

“I’d spend the next couple of months going through the accounting information provided by the prosecution, found some missing profits that weren’t properly accounted for, went through the company’s bank account records, which were thankfully also part of the evidence documents and managed to find some 5.5 million USD worth of revenue that wasn’t accounted for.” 

Mt.Gox was launched in 2010 and quickly became a behemoth in the Bitcoin market. The exchange processed up to 70% of all Bitcoin activity by 2014. However, it was quickly shut down after reports alleging its involvement in the theft and embezzlement of thousands of crypto tokens.

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