The judicial authorities are expected to provide information about Mt. Gox to the US authority which according to the experts is based on the bilateral treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. The response from the Japanese authorities came when the US judicial authorities sought cooperation from Japanese law-enforcement authorities.
The US authorities wanted assistance from the authorities regarding an investigation into alleged fraud at failed Bitcoin exchange operator Mt. Gox. The situation for such a requirement came in when federal prosecutors in New York came to the conclusion that the collapsed Bitcoin exchange committed fraud to the customers.
In early investigation Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department came to the fact that at least about 27,000 Bitcoins which could be worth about ¥1.6 billion in total, were illegally withdrawn in a scheme that utilized a software bug in Mt. Gox’s system. Complying with the law, the Tokyo police department launched a full-fledged investigation into the case in the last month.
A large number of customers who have been cheated by Mt. Gox also filed suit against Mt. Gox and asked for money and following the law, the US side which has jurisdictional issues with the Bitcoin exchange asked the Japanese authorities to help it. Mt. Gox operated from Japan; however, a lot of customers were from the US and elsewhere.
Now, the government agency in the US wants to collect information like computer logs voluntarily submitted by Mt. Gox to the Tokyo police department, statements made by Mt. Gox Chief Executive Officer Mark Karpeles in voluntary questioning with police and the whereabouts of relevant people, etc.
It is going to be the mutual cooperation as even the Japanese judicial authorities are looking for assistance from the US judicial authorities. The Internet protocol addresses in the US were used for the illegal access to the Mt. Gox system, considering the factor the authorities in Japan wants cooperation from US authorities so that they can identify where such access was made.
The catastrophic failure of Mt. Gox was the event that generated tremors among the investors as they realized that even the most reliable and large scale operators like it can fall and they can lose their valuable investments. Later on it also came to public domain that the CEO of the Bitcoin exchange duped the staff and customers and siphoned of money as well.