Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles was investigated by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on suspicion of being behind his online drug market Silk Road. The information was revealed on duration of the Ross trial Ulbricht in New York.
DHS Special Agent Jared Der Yeghiayan said on Thursday that 2012 had evidence that led him to believe that Karpeles and his partner Ashley Barr were behind Silk Road.
The disclosure comes from Ulbricht's defense team, headed by Joshua Dratel's lawyer, who wants to convince the jury that Ulbricht founded the Silk Road, but it was not the Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR) the online pseudonym used by the webmaster.
Sarah Jeong of Forbes, who along with other journalists is watching the case from the courtroom, wrote on Thursday that "the DHS agent's theory was that Karpeles was managing Silk Road to raise the price of Bitcoin."
Evidence, however, indicates that the DHS agent's theory around early to mid-2013 was that the Bitcoin exchange was operating alongside Silk Road, and that investigations found that an affiliate of MT Gox and Karpeles, Mutum Sigilum, had listed under domain silkroadmarket.org.
Please note that the Mt Gox exchange closed without warning in February, declaring bankruptcy later that month.
At that time, 500.000.000 dollars were lost to Bitcoin. Ross Ulbricht's trial will continue on Tuesday.
