Is it possible that the increase in AML / Documentation requests is a stop gap that MtGox is using to shore up its accounts on a temporary basis?
Is it possible that MtGox is not telling the truth about Banking and Police requests, and that instead, they are temporarily insolvent?
It's starting to seem increasingly unlikely that so many accounts would be 'suspicious' to MtGox or any authorities.
Is MtGox another Mybitcoin, on it's last legs and they're just trying to keep up appearances so as to keep from causing a death blow to both themselves and Bitcoin in general?
Just a thought.
-Jonathan
It's obviously possible, but it's just as likely that they don't fully understand how AML/CTF laws work outside of their own jurisdiction. The type of business they operate is going to have a non-trivial amount of suspicious activity, and in many locations their financial institutions are legally bound both to report that activity and to investigate it. Ongoing Customer Due Diligence provisions are often extremely broad and financial institutions take them seriously.
Technocash in Australia is a good example. Their ToS clearly state that they may suspend or terminate accounts on the basis of suspicious activity, that they have the right to withdraw erroneously or fraudulently deposited funds, and that if they're requested or required to aid the authorities in an investigation of such accounts they may charge a "departmental assistance" fee equivalent to the hourly rate charged by liquidators which they can take from the account balance without notice to the account-holder.
Where Technocash is required or requested to assist any government department or authority in Australia or elsewhere then Technocash may charge the relevent BillFold account holder/s a departmental assistance fee as Technocash determins based upon comparable liquidator hourly charges and further Technocash is entitled to recoup all and every out of pocket expenses indirectly of directly related to the assistance provided. Full disclosure of the departmental assistance fee may be restricted in acordance with the confidentiality required by AML/CTF regime. In such an event Technocash may deduct the departmental assistance fee and out of pocket expenses directly from the appropriate BillFold account or accounts without the requirement to notify the account holder/s.
http://www.technocash.com/pages/terms.cfmFrom 1 October, new verification and identification provisions came into force under Australia's AML/CTF legislation which require financial institutions to verify the identity of agents (ie, anyone who isn't the account-holder) depositing or withdrawing funds above the threshold amount. That's probably going to cause more issues because financial institutions already flag transactions which appear to be aimed at avoiding the threshold.
This is all stuff which a locally based business should know about and be prepared to deal with, but which a relatively new business operating from off-shore and with no previous experience in financial services might be caught unawares by.