BitGrail founder ordered to repay funds stolen in exchange hack

Italian bankruptcy court has ordered Francisco Firano, owner of cryptocurrency exchange BitGrail, to repay losses sustained by investors in a 2018 hack. The BitGrail Victims Group has published scans of the ruling on Medium alongside an explanation of the court findings.

Back in February of 2018, Firano announced that Nano tokens valued at $170 million had been stolen from the platform. According to the court documents provided by BGVG, the perpetrators had taken advantage of “the vulnerability of the Nano software,” a fact previously denied, but currently acknowledged by the developers. The investigation also revealed that Firano had failed to report the theft until months after its occurrence.

Firano was forced to declare bankruptcy after the ruling. Authorities have seized BitGrail cryptocurrency assets valued at several million dollars, as well as Firano’s personal assets of over $1 million to repay the investors’ losses resulting from the hack.