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Mt. Gox Settlement Proposal Granted Key Preliminary Approval

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The proposed plan to revive bankrupt Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has received a key preliminary nod of approval.The news comes roughly one week after an initial hearing delayed any decision at the request of lawyers representing Tibanne KK and Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles.Jay Edelson, a US lawyer representing the country’s domestic exchange users, indicated that the plan was approved in a Northern District of Illinois court, and that this move clears the way for it to be more formally vetted in Japan.Edelson told CoinDesk:“The court granted our motion for preliminary approval of our settlement and certified our settlement class. We will now take it to Japan and seek approval from the Japanese Administrator.”The proposal, submitted jointly by the legal representation of the exchange’s international users, would find the class settling its claims against former Mt. Gox chief marketing officer Gonzague Gay-Bouchery and equity stakeholder Jed McCaleb.In addition, Sunlot Holdings, the investor group that has placed a 1 BTC bid to buy the troubled exchange, would purchase the exchange and its related liabilities and provide former users with a 16.5% equity stake in the new operation.Though this development is important to the eventual approval of the deal, the final say regarding the sale of the exchange and the settlement against the defendants still lies with the Japanese courts.More recently, Mt. Gox’s Japanese bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi told The Wall Street Journal that he is still seeking the necessary authority to approve such a plan, and that he will need more clarity as to the state of Mt. Gox’s Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing in the US to do so.However, the next hearing in this part of the case is not set until 17th June, meaning it could be one month before the proposal is allowed an opportunity to move forward. Rubber stamp image via Shutterstockclass actionMt. GoxUSA
Original author: Pete Rizzo