$ 2 billion lost during the hacking of Mt.Gox can be returned to their owners

According to the Moscow Bar Association ZP Legal, the company was able to identify Russian citizenswho received BTC stolen as a result of the Mt.Gox hack in 2014.

According to representatives of the law firm,persons who illegally seized funds from the Mt.Gox exchange can enter into a deal with law enforcement agencies and return the funds to the exchange’s creditors. While creditors of the defunct exchange Mt.Gox wait for Japanese courts to decide their fate, a Moscow law firm is proposing a different solution to the problem.

According to lenders Mt.Gox, ZP Legal contacted them about the possibility of recovering almost a quarter of the missing 850,000 BTC stolen during the hacking of the exchange in 2014. (At the time of the theft, coins cost more than $ 450 million and today $ 8.5 billion)

According to ZP Legal estimates, from 170,000 to 200,000 of these coins can be returned through the prosecution of Russian citizens who seized the stolen funds.

In exchange for help, the law firm willcharge lenders from 50 to 75 percent of the refunded amount, as well as the hourly rate. However, ZP Legal only announced payment for services in the event of a successful recovery.

Alexander Zheleznikov, managing partner of ZPLegal (ZP stands for Zheleznikov and Partners) claims that part of the money stolen from Mt.Gox could have ended up on the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange. The alleged operator of BTC-e, Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, was arrested in July 2017 in Greece and is currently facing extradition to the United States, Russia or France.

Zheleznikov believes that the criminal case againstVinnik, which is also being investigated by Russian authorities, could be accelerated if Mt.Gox creditors act as victims and help law enforcement establish a connection between Mt.Gox, BTC-e and the successor BTC-e – WEX exchange.

We plan to represent creditors of Mt.Gox and provide Russian law enforcement with all the information to establish a connection between the stolen funds with Mt.Gox and the BTC-e and WEX exchanges, using the Vinnik case, – Zheleznikov said. He added:

If our assumptions are true, [thieves] will ultimatelyeventually admit their guilt, and, in order to ease the punishment, may offer to return part of the funds. If they do not, they will be found guilty by law enforcement agencies, and then it will be possible to sue them for damage.

Zheleznikov said his company turned to lawyers representing the interests of Mt.Gox lenders, and then to the lenders themselves through the Russian embassy in Tokyo.

Andy Pug, founder and former coordinator of the largest lender group, Mt. Gox Legal (MGL) said it was first contacted on February 22.

There was a long hiatus after that, but just recently they contacted me and asked me to help them with the process of verifying the identity of theft victims, and contacts to contact them.

According to ZP Legal, it managed to return $1 million to clients of the Russian crypto exchange WEX.

Zheleznikov did not specify the amount, but confirmed that his company worked with two people whose money was frozen at WEX. He declined to name any of the participants in the deal.