According to an emailed statement of the Bitcoin Foundation, they have helped spur a federal investigation on Mt Gox this week. The Tokyo-based virtual money exchange made headlines after shuttering its business down without any public announcement.
"The Bitcoin Foundation proactively reached out to the Southern District of New York to offer assistance. We are continuing to help them and we are cooperating fully with their investigation," the Foundation said in its statement.
After Mt. Gox chief executive officer Mark Karpeles resigned from the foundation's board on February 24, unnamed sources told Bloomberg that the interest group informed the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office about the potential theft of some $400 million from Mt Gox.
Two other unidentified sources told the news agency that Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are are currently investigating whether the shutdown of the popular virtual money exchange had any relations to potential criminal violations. One of them claimed that Bharara had asked Mt Gox to keep documents in line with the agencies' probe.
Another source who had been briefed about the communication of the Bitcoin Foundation with prosecutors said that Bharara's office has also requested the foundation and companies who had done business with Mt Gox information information that could help them with the probe. The person clarified however that both the foundation and Mt Gox's affiliates are not being investigation. In an earlier report, authorities in Japan had expressed their intention to probe Mt Gox's shutdown.
At the moment, a statement placed on Mt Gox's website said that Karpeles is currently in Japan to resolve the virtual money exchange's problems. Moreover, the statement cautioned minders that its staff has been briefed to not provide any information or response regarding the shutdown of Mt Gox.
Bloomberg said that the shutdown of Mt Gox came at an untimely moment when developments about the virtual currency's regulation and its high trading value has been seen in the last few months.
