Founder of Mt. Gox Creditors Cooperative Resigns, Says Settlement Could Take Years

Four days ago, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the April 3 notice to Mt. Gox creditors from the court’s civil rehabilitation trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi. Now a disclosure stemming from the founder of Mt. Gox Legal explains that the coordinator, Andy Pag, is leaving the ongoing legal battle because he thinks the process could take years to settle the case.

Also read: Uyen T Nguyen: The Powerful Young Woman Behind the Alleged ‘Satoshi Affair’

Mt. Gox Legal’s Coordinator Leaves His Post Blaming the Coinlab Claim and Karpeles Schemes

The coordinator and founder of the largest group of Mt. Gox claimants will be leaving his post at the end of April and has disclosed he is selling his claim according to a document published on April 9. Andy Pag is the founder of Mt. Gox Legal, a cooperative of over 900 claimants with claims totaling more than 125,000 BTC. Pag and the organization represent a sizeable portion of the entire Mt. Gox creditor body who want to get their funds back as soon as possible. However, Pag is not so optimistic and has decided to step down from his post because the payout distribution could drag out to “18-24 months” and he feels it could possibly be much longer. Pag says in his recent letter that he strongly believes that the Coinlab claim for ¥1.7 trillion yen (US$16 billion) is the main reason behind his belief things will be stalled but there are others.

Pag also noted that “Mark is scheming again” and he “suspects he’ll be the source of more costs and delays.” The Mt. Gox Legal founder is also selling his claim and has found a buyer willing to pay 15% or $600 per BTC. He also emphasized that he will leave at the end of April and a new coordinator will have to be elected, but added that Mt. Gox Legal may go into “hibernation for a while.” Pag explained when he was recently traveling to Tokyo he learned two things that made him make his decision and one of them “blindsided” him. One is that there will be no civil rehab until the Coinlab claim is settled and secondly Mark Karpeles allegedly told him he wanted help with bringing Tibanne (the Mt. Gox parent company) out of bankruptcy. According to Pag, Karpeles told him that specific move could help the creditor body battle Coinlab in court and get them to drop the claim.

Never-Ending Litigation

Pag doesn’t seem to trust Karpeles’ new plan and called it an elevator full of manure saying that it is “shit on every level.” What really bothers Pag is the “scheming and conniving” is very similar to Karpeles’ prior actions in 2011-2014. “[Karpeles] is straight at it again trying to co-opt co-conspirators to rob Peter to pay Paul,” he claims. Overall, the main issue throughout most of Pag’s disclosure is that Coinlab’s claim is the main impediment to creditors getting a settlement any time soon. Coinlab’s claim has been a very controversial subject since it started and the firm and its founder Peter Vessenes recently upped the stakes filing a claim for $16 billion which is over and above every claimant’s filing.

Peter Vessenes, CEO of Coinlab.

The reason Coinlab is a creditor is because in 2012, Coinlab made a deal with Tibanne which purportedly gave Coinlab and Vessenes the rights to both U.S. and Canadian Mt. Gox customers. Ultimately, the deal never materialized and both Coinlab and Tibanne sued each other and the disagreement found its way into the bankruptcy proceedings and then the rehabilitation process. A highlighted portion of the most recent ¥1.6 trillion Coinlab filing explains that the CEO is pursuing the funds for the “fiduciary” interest of the remaining Coinlab shareholders.

Pag also said that leaving his post was not a decision he came to lightly and Mt. Gox Legal was a big part of his life. In addition to selling his claim for $600 per BTC, the group’s coordinator detailed that the person buying his claim will consider buying other claims as well. Pag added that the individual was only offering the $600 per BTC deal for a month-long period and the next best deal is BE Capital purchasing claims at $400 per BTC. The Mt. Gox Legal founder further added that he can now concentrate more on other life plans and he “feels really positive about this new future.”

What do you think about the founder of Mt. Gox Legal leaving his post and selling his claim for $600 per BTC? What do you think about the opinion that the Coinlab claim will continue holding up the payout process?

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