Good point! there seems to be legal precedent for victims to have some right to recovery.
Discussion
Yeah that article makes precise the mist important point that I forgot, I agree that bitfinex themselves *probably* have the ethical claim on the funds, but it's not 100% clear. Meanwhile I remember saying at the time, and still think: there's not a cat in hell's chance that US GOV will hand over the coins to bitfinex, it doesn't matter what the 'law' says.
I agree the USG will never hand over billions to a shady offshore exchange, but I do hope the Japanese bankrupsy custodian pushes for the 50,000 BTC on behalf of their creditors. It still seems pretty unlikely the USG will recognize that claim, but it may cause the mask of "rule-by-law" to slip a bit further.