The Mt Gox debacle is far from over. According to latest reports, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has revealed that CEO Mark Karpeles, suspected of embezzling ¥321m ($2.6m) of customer deposits, spent a portion of the funds on prostitutes, Nippon News Network reported.
The Japanese police arrested Karpeles on 01 August for allegedly padding his digital accounts with $1 million worth of fake bitcoins and fleecing another $8.9 million from Mt. Gox customer deposits.
"A lot of people seem to think that someone at Mt. Gox was evil," he said. "I know that I didn't steal anything. I mean, if I had, like, $650 million in bitcoin, or even a fraction of this, I wouldn't be here."
When Karpeles was re-arrested later, he denied the allegations and maintained that he “was just a victim”.
“I want the investigation to find the “real culprit”, Karpeles said at the time.
The latest news raises a number of questions. So far, Karpeles has been only suspected of misappropriating the funds, but if he indeed spent the money on prostitutes, it would mean that he the statements made by him about being innocent were all false. Moreover, this would imply he was not only involved in the fraud but knew where all the money went.
TV Asahi reports that Karpeles has been re-arrested today, making it his third arrest in the case. He still denies the charges and told the police that the funds were not spent on private use.
