[elil17]

If the Aveegotchi person is based in a jurisdictions with laws that would be favorable, one solution is to sue him. You could make the argument that he should return the money (and that creating a computer program which was unable to allow him to do so was his own fault).

It’s a similar fact pattern to Citigroup v. Brigade Capital Management (which seems like it could go in Citigroup’s favor).

Of course it seems like the Aveegotchi person is being really nice about this so I don’t think it would be right to sue him, but if I’d just lost my whole life savings maybe I’d think differently.

[londons_explore]

You may be right... But I would hope a court would rule that "I was experimenting with this other guys computer code and it ate my money" wouldn't lead to liability for the author of the code unless the loss can proved to be either deliberate or limited to the gain of the author (rather than the loss of the victim).