Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles is refusing to travel to America this week to answer questions about the Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange's US bankruptcy case.
Bankruptcy judge Stacey Jernigan has ordered Karpeles to the US to answer questions under oath on Thursday from lawyers representing Mt. Gox customers.
However, according to the Wall Street Journal, in court papers the exchange's lawyers say that Karpeles is unwilling to travel because of a recently received subpoena from the US Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
"Until such time as counsel is retained and has an opportunity to 'get up to speed' and advise Mr Karpeles [on the Treasury subpoena], he is not willing to travel to the US," say the court papers.
Lawyers have now requested that Jernigan put back questioning to 5 May.
Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan in February and the US in March after claiming to have lost 850,000 bitcoins - around seven per cent of all the coins in circulation - thanks to a software bug which let hackers plunder accounts.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mt. Gox has now given up plans to rebuild under bankruptcy protection and has asked a Tokyo court to allow it to be liquidated,
Meanwhile, Charlie Shrem, CEO of BitInstant and former Bitcoin Foundation vice chairman, has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
Shrem and alleged accomplice Robert Faiella were charged in January with running a scheme to sell over $1 million in bitcoins to users of the underground Silk Road marketplace.
He will be arraigned on the indictment on 29 April and faces up to 20 years in prison.