What's the incentive of lying that the hack didn't happen and he still had the funds? Just shame? I don't think it is very sensible to lie at that point. You will just get caught later and it will be more painful.
This is covered at length in a great book, Lying for Money. Specific examples in Bitcoinland include Mt. Gox, which survived through fraud for 3 years after it needed to wind up, and Bitfinex/Tether, which has not yet collapsed from the billion dollar fraud they are perpetuating.
Citation very much needed.
Perhaps he thought he could just cover it up by using his own funds to cover the losses.
perhaps