"The application asks several questions; to include, "Do you deal in or exchange currency for your customer?" and "Does your business accept funds from customers and send the funds based on customers' instructions (Money Transmitter)?" Karpeles answered these questions "no," indicating that Mutum Sigillum LLC does not deal in or exchange money, and that it does not send funds based on customer instructions."
at the time "bitcoin" didn't fit into any legitimate definition of currency and virtual currency. arguably mtgox at the time of filling the form was engaged in facilitating trade of something on a level of baseball cards. thus there were no funds transmitted based on customer's instructions. now authorities are using it as a wildcard. but what could this action achieve - mtgox gets fined and applies money transmitter requirements further advancing the exchange on US soil?