[3][4][5], Quadriga likely never invested the funds entrusted to it, according to Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency tracking firm. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. The podcast was reported by Aaron Lammer and Lane Brown.[55]. Cotten's widow has rarely spoken publicly, but in an affidavit has described herself as being subject to "slanderous comments" over accusations her husband faked his death. Quadriga had four employees in 2015 with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, but ran out of money by June 2015. Everyone knows the story about the now-defunct QuadrigaCX . When he was a 15-year-old in Belleville, Ont., Gerald Cotten was selling get-rich-quick schemes on online forums that taught him how to deceive investors and cover his tracks. He graduated from York in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Is Gerald Cotten really dead? goes to Cottens hospital in India to put the whole fake death thing to bed. There is a clear lesson here that having a single person owning this information creates a huge vulnerability.. [42] Another three empty wallets were believed to possibly be owned by Quadriga. Was Patryn, whom employees described as a macho, terrifying character, calling the shots, not Cotten? A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. [53], A Netflix documentary titled Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King about the story of Gerald Cotten was released in March 2022. Miller Thomson LLP sent a letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Friday, requesting authorities conduct an exhumation and postmortem autopsy on the body of Gerald Cotten, founder of QuadrigaCX, citing what the firm called the questionable circumstances around his death earlier this year. Jennifer RobertsonGerry Cotten,. Customers reported that once they arrived, there was nobody in the office, or that there was no cash to be disbursed. [11] Lawyers for the customers of the exchange have asked that Cotten's body be exhumed.[12]. Gerald and Jennifer kept most of their relationship away from the public. Like other crypto-exchanges, Quadriga kept its funds in so-called cold wallets, digital storage devices not connected to the internet, which are safe from hacking. Zou resorted to the cryptocurrency scheme to avoid bank charges when moving Vancouver, shifting his money from the US to a Canadian account. Died, and He Had the Passwords", "Pre-filing report of the proposed monitor", "Controversial QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange placed in bankruptcy", "Quadriga Should Shift to Bankruptcy Proceedings, Monitor Says", "FBI Probing Bitcoin Exchange Quadriga Over Missing $136 Million, Source Alleges", "Quadriga: Lawyers for users of bankrupt crypto firm seek exhumation of founder", "How Gerald Cotten built Quadriga and created the ensuing crypto storm", "Ponzi Schemes, Private Yachts, and a Missing $250 Million in Crypto: The Strange Tale of Quadriga", "Geek Speak: Gerald Cotton, CEO of Quadriga CX", "Crypto chaos: From Vancouver to Halifax, tracing the mystery of Quadriga's missing millions", "Quadriga's late founder used to store clients' Bitcoin passwords on paper so they wouldn't get lost", "A crypto exchange CEO dies-with the only key to $137 million", "Details emerging about Gerald Cotten, the young founder of QuadrigaCX", "My smart contract just ate $14 millionnow what? The investors found more questions than answers. , and found an affidavit from Robertson saying that she didnt understand how QuadrigaCX operatedeven though one of Robertsons companies later wired cash to some of Quadrigas customers. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. Gerald Cotten is allegedly meant to have died from Crohns disease after the exchange crashed. Lived In Los Angeles CA, Austin TX, Van Nuys CA . The death, and the resulting collapse of Quadriga, set off a score of government and citizen investigations into how so much digital currency could be spirited away. The thing is, a CEOs death shouldnt lock customers out of their money. His body was repatriated to Canada and a funeral was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then it emerged that Jennifer had legally changed her name three times in the past few years, and a man sharing one of her former last names was at the center of an unsolved murder case. The streaming service announced the feature alongside a slate of upcoming true-crime projects last week. Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. Quadriga's accounts are estimated to have held 190million ($250million). Given the intrigue, some went so far as to question whether Mr Cotten had really died and demanded his body be exhumed. The teen, a bright computer enthusiast from Belleville, Ontario, ran the operation on an online forum called TalkGold . More than three years after the sudden death of Quadriga CEO Gerald Cotten and the revelations that the company was a massive cryptocurrency scam, his widow, Jennifer Robertson, tells her side of the story.#Quadriga #GeraldCotten #BitcoinWatch The National live on YouTube Sunday-Friday at 9 p.m. ETSubscribe to The National: https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCTheNational?sub_confirmation=1Connect with The National online:Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thenationalTwitter | https://twitter.com/CBCTheNationalInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/cbcthenationalMore from CBC News | https://www.cbc.ca/newsThe National is CBC's flagship nightly news program, featuring the day's top stories with in-depth and original journalism, with hosts Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang in Toronto, Ian Hanomansing in Vancouver and the CBC's chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton in Ottawa. And not even. Was a recently-active Skype account proof he was still alive? Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with. [7][8], Quadriga co-founder Michael Patryn was identified by The Globe and Mail as Omar Dhanani, who was convicted on identity theft charges in the U.S. and served 18 months in Federal prison. Some have speculated his death was a clever ruse and there have been calls to have his body exhumed to prove it was a "fake". Following Quadrigas implosion in 2019, it was investigated by the Ontario Securities Commission, which concluded that, "what happened at Quadriga was an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology. Fourteen trading accounts that were also examined were used to trade on other exchanges. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. All that money vanished into the crypto ether and only once investigations occured did people start to think that it may have been a scam all along. He died just nine days into his honeymoon due to an acute stomach ache. To add credence to the theory that he faked his own death and is still alive, Bloomberg reported that the crypto exchange founder filed his will just 12 days before he apparently died. It's clear to me that Cotten gave himself millions of dollars worth of crypto as the owner to trade people fake crypto and give himself millions of dollars. In that case, $851 million entrusted to Crypto Capital had been "lost, stolen or absconded with", according to the suit. ", QuadrigaCX founder used aliases, moved assets into personal accounts: report, "Quadriga Crypto Mystery Deepens With 'Cold Wallets' Found Empty", "After founder's sudden death, cryptocurrency exchange can't access $190 million in holdings", "Crypto Mystery: Quadriga's Wallets Are Empty, Putting Fate Of $137 Million in Doubt", "Unable to Retrieve Money, Cryptocurrency Investors Want Dead Executive Exhumed", Crypto exchange Quadriga was a fraud and founder was running Ponzi scheme, OSC report finds, QuadrigaCX: A Review by Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission, Quadriga CEO's widow speaks out over his death and the missing crypto millions, "Quadriga Accidentally Moved More Bitcoin to an Inaccessible Wallet", "Quadriga Founder's Widow Seeks Repayment of Her Costs", "Quadriga Lawyer Withdraws Amid Conflict of Interest Concerns", "Hot Docs Shane Smith: Weve crossed the digital divide", "Exit Scam: A Podcast Series about the Death and Afterlife of Gerald Cotten", "More than $400,000 in QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency disappears into 'cold wallet', "Before Quadriga: How shady ventures in Gerald Cotten's youth led to the creation of his ill-fated cryptocurrency exchange", "Widow of Quadriga crypto founder Gerald Cotten says she had no idea about the $215-million scam", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quadriga_Fintech_Solutions&oldid=1141935834, Financial services companies established in 2013, Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 17:09. They surfed his social media accounts at first, then traced Cottens digital footprints even more closely for clues. Fifteen years later, Mr Cotten, known as Gerry, would be accused of swindling people online of a much bigger prize. His death was kept secret for a month by the firm before it was finally announced - and it was found he had spent millions in investors' money funding his own lavish lifestyle. [27] Another payment processor used by Quadriga, Crypto Capital, was named in a civil suit filed by the New York Attorney General in April 2019. It apparently had no formal accounting system. Some speculate that Cotten, who suffered with Crohn's disease, might actually be alive. Trust No One depicts Cotten as a nerdy, happy-go-lucky, and charming CEO, who was knee-deep in Bitcoin and a fierce advocate of the technology. This was more of a gamblers high than a rich guys high as he pursued more and more of other peoples money, the stakes went up. Gerald Cotten, who was born on May 11th, 1988, was raised in Belleville, Ontario, before relocating to Toronto to enroll at York University's Schulich School of Business. But the money, of course, was still missing. "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King". TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING, a DONT F*CK WITH CATS-style investigative thriller, is now streaming on Netflix. Dying from Crohn's disease when only 1.6% of sufferers from this disease die of it and to happen to die from . A 33-YEAR-OLD man lost his life savings after getting involved with a cryptocurrency trader who died, taking the password to access funds to the grave. That same month, Quadriga filed for creditor protection, and scores of angry investors began furiously questioning where their money went, even though only Mr Cotten knew the keys to the companys crypto vault and never set up a dead mans trigger to send them elsewhere in case he was incapacitated. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. Was, whom employees described as a macho, terrifying character, that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different name, Then, out of the blue, one Mike Patryn joined the Telegram group that investors were using to discuss conspiracies. A C$100,000 trust fund was made to provide lifelong care for Cotten's two chihuahuas in case of Robertson's death. They reported that Jennifer said she couldnt get into Cottens laptops, and found an affidavit from Robertson saying that she didnt understand how QuadrigaCX operatedeven though one of Robertsons companies later wired cash to some of Quadrigas customers. Netflixs documentary definitely seems to be in the corner that Cotten did die, despite the mystery surrounding his death. Cotten passed away from complications that arose from Crohn's disease while on a honeymoon in Indiaapparently taking some $215 million of customer funds to the grave. The mystery of Cotten and Quadriga is now the subject of podcasts Exit Scam and A Death In Cryptoland. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. In their letter to the RCMP the law firm underlined the need for certainty around the question of whether Mr Cotten is in fact deceased. Soon after his death, however, reports surfaced that nearly 80,000 users of QuadrigaCX at the time Canadas largest cryptocurrency exchange were unable to access funds totalling more $190m. Here's a link to the BlackHat forum. It just wasnt there. Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. It is highly unusual for only a single executive to be the one with access to a company's fund, further muddying the waters around what happened to Cotten. Netflix has seen a boom with its true-crime docuseries, from 'Tiger King' to 'Making a Murderer.' [34][35], On 14 January 2019,[36] Quadriga announced that their CEO, Gerald Cotten, had died the month prior from Crohn's disease while doing volunteer work at an orphanage in India. After beginning as an entrepreneur, Cotten founded Quadriga Fintech Solutions in 2013 and the company evolved to become the largest crypto exchange in the country, and it even helped to legitimize Bitcoin. About C$1.2 billion worth of bitcoin was exchanged on Quadriga. When Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly last year, hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds vanished into the crypto ether. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix | Where Are They Now?Subscribe Here! However, it was eventually discovered that Gerald had transferred all of his belongings to his wife before his death. Gerald Gerry Cotten is the founder of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga Fintech Solutions and is at the helm of a groundbreaking investment scam that the Netflix documentary investigates. [31], Robertson filed an affidavit on behalf of the company which included a "Statement of Death" for Cotten, filed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 12 December 2018. I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. Netflix's 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' explores the story of Gerald Cotten, founder and CEO of Canadian crypto exchange business QuadrigaCX, whose passed away unexpectedly in 2018. And why did the Indian hospital that treated Cotten misspell his name on his death certificate? Another "appears to have been used to receive Bitcoin from another cryptocurrency exchange account and subsequently transfer Bitcoin to the Quadriga hot wallet" on 3 December. [49], On 5 March 2019, Justice Wood extended Quadriga's court protection to 23 April. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. For instance, had Cottens death certificate, which spelled his name as Cottan, been faked? The media dragged Gerald Cotten's wife, Jennifer Robertson, into the spotlight after his mysterious death. You transferred them $1,000 and you could see the crypto in your account. Then, out of the blue, one Mike Patryn joined the Telegram group that investors were using to discuss conspiracies. His death left investors locked out of their money and left Jennifer Robertson, Gerry's wife . Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). [43][44] On 13 December 2019, the court-appointed law firm representing the exchange's former users sent a letter to the RCMP asking that they exhume Cotten's body to confirm his identity and verify a cause of death. "[18], The company tried to raise money and list on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) working with Patryn. Tong Zou is one of thousands of customers left seriously out of pocket following Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten's mysterious death in 2018 at the age of 30. Gerald Cotten (born 11 May 1988)[14] lived in Belleville, Ontario before attending the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. Cotton's sudden death from complications of Crohn's disease aged 30 shocked the crypto world - but many believe he may have faked his death in an elaborate "exit scam". Likewise, the public was not much intrigued about their lives up until . Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? "Once I deposited it, it was basically gone.". Re-thinking indemnification for smart contract risks", "Bitcoin investors face long delays cashing out, criticize two B.C. Browse Locations. So, Patryn: shit-stirrer, criminal mastermind or another one beguiled by Cotten? [48], On 5 February 2019, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael J. [33] After the exchange was put into maintenance mode for several days in January, they announced on the 31st that they were applying for creditor protection. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . I just prayed. "It did become an obsession.. So what exactly happened to Cotten, and is he still alive somewhere sitting on a mountain of stolen crypto? Robertson has not been accused of any wrongdoing - and has denied any knowledge of her husband's business dealings. [24][25][26], According to court filings, Quadriga also used WB21 as a payment processor. The tech-savvy individual traced domain names, links, and trades on the blockchain, discovering a lengthy track-record of schemes, from Mr Cottens early days on TalkGold, to his association with a business partner named Michael Patryn. He convinced tons of investors to fork over their money so he could invest it into Crypto. Mr Patryn pled guilty in 2005 to working in an identity fraud ring, and did business under a company called Midas Gold as an intermediary with Liberty Reserve, a Costa Rican digital currency firm busted as one of the largest money laundering operations in history. I think there were a couple years when it ran legitimately I dont think Gerry could have imagined a future with money pouring in the way it eventually did..