The trading fees will need to double or triple at minimum to even have a hope of recovery before civil action.
No, not correct:
It really depends on how much BTC the hackers stole recently.
Gox made more than enough last year to cover what the Feds stole.
Don't believe that?
Look at one single good day late last year (for example)
~74,000 BTC volume*~$1089.57USD/BTC = ~$80,628,180*~1%fees = ~$806,281.80 in one single (above average) day
Gox made more than enough last year to cover what the Feds stole.
It's not that simple. The Gross Revenue is a far cry from the Net Income. Financial Service businesses operate in a very expensive racket. Look at other financial exchanges, e-trade for example...
e-trade does more than $250 Billion per year in trade; in 2013 they profited 0.03% (that's three hundredths of 1%.) They closed out 2012 in a deficit, and profited 0.09% in 2011.
It's not a cheap field to operate a business in, and I expect Gox doesn't get to exempt themselves from the costs that other Financial Exchange businesses are subjected to.
If Gox can net 1% of their Gross Income at the end of the year without considering any repayment for seized funds, that would be a banner year...