No CommentsWe already knew that the US Department of Homeland Security seized, in May, a payment processing account belonging to Mt. Gox. What we didn’t know was how much money had been confiscated by the authorities at the time. However, court documents now made public reveal the amount: over $2.9 million in Bitcoin funds.
The information comes from a new filing in Baltimore federal court, which shows the feds seized $2,915,507.40 held in an account managed by Dwolla, a third-party payment platform. The funds belonged to Mutum Sigillum LLC, a subsidiary of the Japan-based Mt. Gox in the United States. For now, it’s not clear what will be done with the funds.
Back in May, the Bitcoin community suspected that the seized funds were significant, since the Dwolla-based account was the easiest way for Americans to buy and sell large quantities of Bitcoin using Mt. Gox. After the seizure, the exchange continued to process American transactions, but it has been really slow to deliver US dollar withdrawals.
At the time, the federal authorities decided to act because Mt. Gox owner, Mark Karpeles, didn’t allegedly register the company correctly, as a money services business, when opening the account in the USA. In the meantime, the entrepreneur has stated that Mt. Gox is in compliance with all federal and state financial regulations.
