Society

High court upholds Karpeles conviction for data manipulation

Jun 13 (Japan Today) - A Japanese high court on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision that the French head of Mt Gox, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange that went bankrupt after a massive hacking attack, was guilty of manipulating electronic data but not embezzlement.

The Tokyo District Court last year sentenced Mark Karpeles to two years and six months in prison, suspended for four years.

The suspended sentence means Karpeles, a French citizen, will not have to serve jail time. He says he is innocent and appealed to clear his name.

Karpeles has insisted he did not pocket client funds that went missing when Mt Gox collapsed in 2014. He said he is not yet sure what he will do next.

"Today's verdict was unfortunate, and I am reviewing its contents alongside my lawyers and will decide how to proceed from there in the coming days," he said late Thursday.

Karpeles was arrested in August 2015 and spent 11 months in detention while awaiting trial in a case that drew global attention, as cryptocurrencies were then relatively new.

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