Mississippi Doctors Sued Mt. Gox for Bitcoin Loss Now Worth $133 Million

Two former users of the defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox have brought a lawsuit against the company for the loss of 9,500 bitcoins – an amount worth around $133 million at today's prices.

The case, first filed by Dr. Donald and his son Dr. Chris Raggio on March 5, 2014, was brought against a series of entities and individuals including Jed McCaleb and Mark Karpeles, the former owners of Mt. Gox. The defendants had filed a motion for summary judgment, but it was denied on Nov. 16, 2017. The two subsequently appealed the decision last month.

According to the court document, Donald Raggio first registered on the Mt. Gox exchange around December 2010, at a time when bitcoin was trading at below $1, CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index shows.

Yet email correspondence between Donald Raggio and McCaleb indicated that soon after, in January 2011, both became aware that someone moved the 9,500 bitcoins out of Donald's account.

While it was not clear how the account was accessed, McCaleb appears to have been involved in helping Raggio investigate the issue after he reported the loss. The court documents show that an investigation led to a potential suspect named "Baron," who denied the accusation after his account was frozen.

Then, in February 2011, McCaleb sold the Mt. Gox exchange to Karpeles, who later claimed that he inherited Mt. Gox's assets, not its liabilities, from his predecessor.

It wasn't until after Mr. Gox declared its notable bankruptcy in 2014 that Donald and Chris Raggio brought the lawsuit against the firm.

The defendants in the case have since argued that the case should be time-barred due to the statute of limitations in the Mississippi State, since it was filed three years and 54 days after the reported loss.

Justice image via Shutterstock