Florida Judge Freezes Cryptsy Assets and Appoints Receiver

In January of 2016, several users filed a class action suit against Cryptsy in Florida, in attempt to recover any remains of their deposits after the embattled exchange abruptly closed its doors.

Today, Kenneth Marra, a Florida District Judge, has put a freeze on what remains of assets belonging to defunct digital currency exchange Cryptsy. According to court documents, James D. Sallah has been appointed as Receiver in the case.

The order states:

“The Receiver shall assume and control the operations of Cryptsy and shall pursue and preserve all of its claims.”

Sallah has been authorized to take possession of all Cryptsy assets, including any digital currency deposits that were not withdrawn prior to the shutdown of the exchange. Furthermore, Judge Marra has granted Sallah subpoena-issuing powers in order to facilitate the discovery process in the case.

Paul Vernon, former CEO of Cryptsy, has not been served with the court order. Vernon told CoinDesk in January that he was “travelling” in China, and has not been seen, or heard from, since that interview.

In a blog post in January, Vernon claimed that a hacker stole 13,000 BTC and 300,000 LTC in 2014, after penetrating Cryptsy’s servers using an IRC trojan embedded in the wallet of Lucky7coin, a digital currency that was traded on Cryptsy.

Sallah has been given 30 days to draft a report with his conclusions and recommendations on how the Crypts lawsuit will proceed. The court document mentioned that Sallah’s hourly rate is set at $400/hour.

“The Receiver’s standard hourly rate is currently $400-$500, and the Receiver is approved for an hourly rate of $400 in this matter. The Receiver is authorized to file motions to employ professionals, such as attorneys and/or accountants, whose rates will be disclosed in same.”

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