GitHub is facing a potential legal challenge from OKPAY after suggestions from users its CEO was “working closely” with Bitcoin Exchange BTC-e.
OKPAY CEO Sergey Mayzus has said he is preparing to sue GitHub following accusations he was involved with BTC-e.
A group of the exchange’s customers, which set up an action page on GitHub, had encouraged the public to “report” Mayzus to FinCEN and Cypriot financial authorities over “working closely together” with BTC-e.
“Mayzus and OKPay are working closely together with BTC-E,” the website still reads.
Mayzus subsequently retaliated saying his lawyers had sent GitHub a request to remove the “libelous” content but had not received a response.
“However, up to this day, we have not received a response from the owners of the above website and have not come to an understanding with GitHub Inc., which brought the lawyers of my companies to start preparing a lawsuit against GitHub Inc. and the owners of the website btceclaims.github.io,” he wrote in a statement on OKPAY July 31.
Uncertainty
Nonetheless, Mayzus did acknowledge his company “might” have counted among its clients “legal entities who could be operators of the BTC-E exchange or private persons who could be owners or employees of the BTC-E exchange.”
“[H]owever, all accounts of legal entities or individuals whom we considered as possibly related to the BTC-E exchange, are blocked, which was properly reported to the financial regulatory authorities,” he continued.
“The case against BTC-e continues, with a date for the exchange potentially re-commencing operations looking increasingly uncertain.”
An update from staff suggested that if the status quo with US law enforcement and FBI had not changed by the end of August, it would begin refunding customers’ money, albeit with the amount available still also unknown.
BTC-e has taken to providing updates on BitcoinTalk, with Twitter announcements stopping in recent days.
