I heard that Nobuaki Kobayashi (Mt Gox bankruptcy trustee) is getting interested in the Alexander Vinnik case. He has requested for details from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). But at the same time, Kobayashi hasn't made his opinion clear on the proposal by ZP Legal, to recover up to BTC200,000 from the Mt Gox hackers. However, Mr. Kobayashi admitted yesterday that his team had contacted Alexander Zheleznikov, who is heading ZP Legal. I think it may be possible to do some bargain and get the commission reduced from 50%-75% to around 20%-25%.

BTW, I heard that CoinLab is now claiming $16 billion from Mt Gox (which sounds ludicrous, considering the fact that Kobayashi has less than $650 million in his hand from the sale of the recovered coins). Will this amount (in the unlikely event of the trustee approving their claims), be paid from the bankruptcy fund?

Like a missing piece of a puzzle, other than a potential money grab or a scam, this one could be the reason why this proposal/firm is still being shilled for more than a day or two since their first announcement.

For starters, bribing (foreign) government officials is both unethical and illegal in much of the world.

There is also the issue that if government officials are being bribed to take money from one person to give to you, the money may not actually belong to you, but rather, it could be that it just so happen that the person who the government is taking money from just so happens to have a lot of money.

I do think it appears the OP is promoting the law firm's offer by his activity in this thread.

If you are in concurrence that government officials will be bribed to recover the money, I am not sure why you are promoting this law firm...

Russia doesn’t have any real rule of law and there is lots of corruption throughout the government including the court system.

If you have money stolen from you that ended up in Russia, I would consider it lost. The law firm in question may be taking such a hefty fee because they need to pay kickbacks to government officials.

In any case, the amounts being asked for far exceed normal contingency fees charged by western lawyers. 

It remains my opinion that the people you are describing are attempting to scam you and/or other gox creditors.

If there is money to be recovered, there is no reason you need to use a specific lawyer. Any lawyer who is authorized to practice law can represent you (or the MtGox creditors) in the particular jurisdiction the case would need to be filed.

I am also unsure if the lawyers would even be able to represent the creditors at all without the consent of the trustee, even if a third party is paying them separately. Thinking about this more, I don’t think this is possible

Lawyers cannot predict outcomes, even if there is a 'slam dunk' case.


There is probably a reason for this, if it is true.

The trustee is the only entity who is entitled to receive assets from anyone who owes MtGox money. If you hired these lawyers, you would need to pay the entire cost out of your own pocket, and could not agree to allow the lawyer to receive a percentage of the recovered assets, unless you are paying this fee out of your own pocket as well. If the trustee does not want to hire these lawyers, there is really not much you can do.

All of the above does not account for the fact this sounds like a scam.

My second home is in Holland. I travel to Russia about a hundred times a year for business. I even invested in a small mining farm there.
I know the level of shittery that goes on in there.
But this is absolute fishy. Most probably a scam or a long con where these so called legit law firm would run away with someone's money in the end.
I'll bet my ass on it!

Unless they're going through law enforcement or the Mt Gox creditor I don't see how it can have any legitimacy.

Vinnik is still buried in extradition stuff. BTC-e is dust. If Vinnik, or anyone else, does have any coins they will be handled by whatever court they're convicted by, not predatory lawyers who turn up out of nowhere on the internet.

Absolute bullshit.

There has been no mention of this from legitimate sources and absolutely no mention of any coins other than the ones dug out by Mark Karpeles.

And how does a bunch of scum lawyers recover coins with no mention of Russian law enforcement? Some criminals felt bad so they get in touch and handed over their money? That must be the first time it's happened in the history of this solar system.

This 'law firm' is trying to con people.