‘Big Vern’ will have to pay $8.2 million to the Cryptsy users

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that Paul Vernon, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy that collapsed in January 2016, will have to compensate the damage inflicted to its clients with the sum of $8.2 million, as reported by Bitcoin.com.

Paul Vernon, also known as ‘Big Vern’, has vanished from his Florida residence after the reports of alleged hack of Cryptsy, accompanied by the disappearance of more than 11,000 bitcoins and 300,000 lightcoins. Some suspect he is currently hiding in the Chinese province of Liaoning.

Previously, the founder of Cryptsy denied any wrongdoing and expressed his regrets that he didn’t manage to successfully protect the funds of the exchange’s clients. Cryptsy started to sustain losses back in 2014, and this was not known to its investors until its ultimate collapse in 2016. Vernon stated that he tried to bring the funds back, but bitcoin’s low price hampered his efforts.

The investors filed a class action against Vernon. The judge accepted the plaintiffs’ arguments and ordered Vernon to pay his investors a sum of $8.2 million, adding almost $690,000 as interest from 1 November 2015.

Because the whereabouts of Vernon remain unknown, the copies of court ruling were sent to his home address and e-mail. If the rumors that he is hiding in China prove to be true, his extradition to American authorities might become difficult.