I was wondering this as well. Originally technical problems were blamed for the lack of payouts and now suddenly the coins are no longer there (and by that, I assume that they have been confiscated, frozen or seized in some legal way rather than actually lost).

Also, on another subject: When BitFunder announced its plans to close for US users and require non-US users to send in verification documents, I and many others verified to be able to continue trading after the dust settled. Now that BitFunder is closed for good, will these submitted documents be destroyed or was this request for verification simply an information-gathering trick for the US three-letter-agencies?