Mt. Gox Trustee Wants a Refund after Paying Some Creditors Twice

The creditors of the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox woke up to a surprise as some had received the settlement proceeds twice. Now, the trustee is sending emails to such creditors asking for a refund for the excess amount.

Mt. Gox Creditors Receive Double Payments

A Reddit user posted the contents of the email received from the Mt. Gox trustee that cites “a system issue” behind the double payment. Several other Reddit users also admitted to receiving double payments and consecutive emails.

“Due to a system issue, the transfer of money to you was inadvertently made twice,” the email noted. “Please note that you are not authorized to receive the second transfer and are legally obligated to return the above amount to the Rehabilitation Trustee.”

Based in Japan, Mt. Gox was the leading crypto exchange in terms of volume at its peak, handling 70 percent of all global Bitcoin transactions. However, the exchange was hacked in 2014 and could not recover from the effects of the attack. The former CEO of the collapsed crypto exchange was also convicted in a Japanese court for tampering with exchange records.

To compensate the creditors, Nobuaki Kobayashi was appointed as the trustee overseeing the collapsed exchange’s estate. However, he dragged out the rehabilitation process for ten years with many deadline extensions before some creditors received payments earlier this month.

Trustee Seeks Immediate Refund

The email received by the creditors who received double payments to “immediately refund the [additional] amount.” If a refund on PayPal does not work, it even asked them to initiate a payment of an equivalent amount to the trustee.

The creditors are divided, at least the ones who are vocal on social media. One Reddit user even mocked the trustee and asked him to wait ten years before receiving a refund. However, at least one creditor confirmed to have refunded the excess amount.

Although the double payment benefited some of the Mt. Gox creditors who waited ten years for the refund, they are legally obligated to return the proceeds. Earlier, crypto exchanges took legal action against the receivers of such accidental transactions who refused to return the proceeds. Last year, Crypto.com sued two Melbourne-based sisters who mistakenly received $10.5 million but refused to return the sum. One of the sisters was even arrested.