The fresh allegation against France-born Karpeles, 30, follows his arrest Saturday by Tokyo police, more than a year after the once-dominant exchange collapsed in the wake of fraud allegations. Citing investigators, Japan’s top-selling Yomiuri newspaper said today that Karpeles fraudulently tinkered with data and transferred funds to other firms controlled by him dozens of times between 2011 and 2013.
Police are questioning Karpeles about his alleged spending of customer deposits worth about 1.1 billion yen ($8.9 million), according to public broadcaster NHK and the Yomiuri. Officially, Karpeles was arrested for allegedly manipulating data in 2013 to artificially create about $1.0 million in Bitcoins. But police were also investigating his possible involvement in the massive loss of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the virtual currency last year, local media have said.
In <g data-gr-id="29">Japan</g> police can hold a suspect without charge for up to three weeks, during which time they may carry out intense interrogations in an attempt to extract a confession. Karpeles is currently in police custody. In response to the arrest, Tokyo on Monday said it would boost efforts to regulate the <g data-gr-id="27">crypto-currency</g> in coordination with other G7 countries. “With respect to virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, we have gathered information and discussed measures” to regulate it, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing.
“At the G7 summit, it was requested that each country introduce regulations from the viewpoint of measures to stop <g data-gr-id="24">terrorism</g> financing and money-laundering.” Regulators have scrambled to respond to the use of Bitcoins, with some calling for caution until rules are developed to stop them being abused.
Bitcoins are generated by complex chains of interactions among a huge network of computers around the <g data-gr-id="26">planet,</g> and are not backed by any government or central bank, unlike traditional currencies.
Bankers say virtual currencies allow for an efficient and anonymous way to store and transfer funds online.
British HSBC’s April-June net crashes 3.8%
HSBC announced on Monday that net profit fell 3.8 <g data-gr-id="55">per cent</g> in the three months to June, as the company agreed to sell its Brazilian business for $5.2 billion to Brazil’s Banco Bradesco. Europe’s biggest bank announced in June that it would cut its global workforce by up to 50,000 as it exits Brazil and Turkey.
The moves come as HSBC tries to boost profits and move past recent scandals, including the rigging of foreign exchange markets. In the first half of 2015 net profit dropped 1.3 <g data-gr-id="54">per cent</g>, although the company emphasised a rise in pre-tax profits, which went up 10% over the six months. Quarterly profit fell to $4.36 billion from $4.54 billion in the same period last year.