Today, Bloomberg said US District Judge Gary Feinerman in Chicago has amended his temporary order, which froze all assets that belong to the US affiliate of Mt. Gox Co. Feinerman, who handed out the original ruling on March 11, decided to loosen up the asset freeze of Tibanne KK for authorities to observe where some of the virtual currency flows.
The ruling was decided on a lawsuit filed by Bitcoin exchange depositor Gregory Greene, who sued Mt Gox and its chief executive officer Mark Karpeles last month following the latter's bankruptcy filing in Japan. It appears that Greene's camp has changed their tactics when his lawyer Jay Edelson told the judge that they were trying to find the missing Bitcoins Karpeles and the exchange said to have been allegedly stolen from them. Greene's lawyers reportedly asked for the revision of the order, and told the court that they are seeking for the assets that belong to the two companies.
On February 28, Mt Gox filed for bankruptcy in Tokyo following an announcement in early March that a total of 850,000 Bitcoins could no longer be found. Bloomberg said that the missing Bitcoins account for 7% of the collective total amount of Bitcoins in the world. The exchange is currently under investigation by both prosecutors and regulators for the potential illegal transactions the virtual currency was being used for. The Tokyo-based exchange immediately sought protection under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court in Dallas and was able to acquire an order that will shield the company from litigation.
Feinerman actually challenged the protection provided by the Dallas bankruptcy court and said that the order does not shield Karpeles nor his Japanese company Tibanne or a related company located in Delaware, Mt Gox Inc, from litigation. Bloomberg noted that no attorneys for Karpeles, Tibanne or Mt Gox Inc appeared on their behalf in a Chicago court regarding Greene's lawsuit. A revised March 14 complaint also had Greene adding Japanese lender Mizuho bank as a defendant in the case against Karpeles and others.
Bloomberg said Feinerman has extended his order to March 25, which will now lift bans on Bitcoin transactions worth less than a thousand dollars. Edelson chose not to disclose how they will track the transactions.
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