It suddenly clicked.
Of course Willy was Mark's bot.
The Gox premium was pushed into existence over desperate months, when Mark realized the btc stash just kept running lower and lower.
He was "buying" (giving people cash IOUs) coins all the time, to fund btc withdrawals, hence the "Gox Premium". No wonder sellers couldn't get their cash out!
In the end he put Willy into reverse to help set up his notorious arb offer... and fiat withdrawals improve.
Just a couple of questions linger for me:
1. Presuming the heist happened or began years ago, at what point did Mark start buying back coins to try to make up the deficit?
2. Over the last "lockdown" weeks, were any of the potential "investors" already buying up, and if so are they stuck like everyone else or did Mark give them exit rights?
Anyway I know people want to move on if possible, but I just wanted to say "Bye bye Willy".