The statement is a joke. How come they did not realize until a few days ago that there was a huge discrepancy between the money they were holding in their bank and the money deposited by their customers?

You all know this is BS and simply cannot happen. They knew very well they had less than they were supposed to, they just decided to run on fractional reserve and spent customers money to cover their own operational expenses. I wouldn't be surprised if Karpeles even cashed out dividends at some point while knowing the company was virtually bankrupt.