Paul Vernon, the founder of the bankrupt online trading platform, has refuted the accusations of him secretly transferring money from the exchange to his personal accounts.

The former head of Cryptsy claims that the statements made by the court-appointed receiver are “misleading” since the movement of funds occurred by mistake, as a result of a mixing of personal and business accounts, he told CoinDesk. Paul Vernon was accused of negligence and unjust enrichment. The suit was filed in January 2016 by two law firms in Florida with the result that the court froze all assets of the cryptocurrency exchange and placed it under receivership.

“This is an interpretation by the plaintiff with the sole purpose of strengthening their case. Were there business mistakes made during the course of Cryptsy's operations? Of course, every business makes mistakes. One mistake that was made, which is a common mistake in small business, is mixing personal and business accounts,” Vernon stated.

However, the ex-CEO did not comment on other accusations by the receiver, namely, that he removed all information from Cryptsy servers prior to handing over control of the company. In early August, the receiver James Sallah said that Vernon moved more than 1,100 bitcoins from the exchange and sold them for over $3.3 million. These funds settled allegedly in his and his ex-wife’s bank account.

Cryptsy shut down early in 2016. Over a few months prior to that, the exchange had been receiving multiple customer complaints regarding the withdrawal of funds. As a result, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the company. Cryptsy blamed its insolvency on a hacker attack occurred in 2014.

Lena Gabdullina