[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. You transferred them $1,000 and you could see the crypto in your account. Neither Costodian or Quadriga could access the funds. Then, as their accounts accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars, Gerald passed unexpectedly, taking the passwords to the accounts to his grave. Netflixs latest true crime doc, "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King",seeks to unravel the mystery of Gerald Cotten, the CEO of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, who died in 2018. Then in January, 2019, Cottens wife Jennifer Robertson announced that he had died a month earlier. For instance, had Cottens death certificate, which spelled his name as Cott, , been faked? After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. ET. A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. One of the. [32] It also stated that Quadriga has 363,000 registered users and a sum of C$250 million is owed to 115,000 affected users. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. , 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. [49], On 5 March 2019, Justice Wood extended Quadriga's court protection to 23 April. Though some dont believe Mr Cotten is really gone, the money from Quadriga is. 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. G erald Cotten was 15 when he ran his first documented get-rich-quick scheme. 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. Likewise, the public was not much intrigued about their lives up until . 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. ", "Vancouver crypto exchange, CIBC clash over frozen accounts", "Judge rules with CIBC, grants possession of disputed Quadriga funds to Ontario Superior Court", "The fintech 'genius' accused in $165m fraud", "Crypto Firm Cited in Bitfinex Case Had Also Worked With Quadriga", "Quadriga co-founder served time in U.S. for role in identity-theft ring, documents reveal", "Criminal Past Haunts Surviving Founder of Troubled Crypto Exchange", "Crypto firm CEO with $190 million password did die in Jaipur hospital", "Cryptocurrency Exchange Says It Can't Access $190 Million After CEO Unexpectedly Died", "Millions in cryptocurrencies frozen in Canada after only person who had password dies in India", "Crypto Exchange Founder Filed Will 12 Days Before He Died", "Quadriga CEO, whose death ignited a cryptocurrency storm, a kind man with taste for fine things, say friends", "Crypto Exchange Mystery Deepens as Board Seeks Court Protection", "Crypto exchange Quadriga files for creditor protection", "Quadriga mystery deepens with little evidence of cold wallets containing $250M", "A Crypto-Mystery: Is $136 Million Stuck or Missing? Fake trading: I'm almost certain that he was trading with fake crypto, Chris Markay was one of the accounts that Cotten used to trade his "crypto" he also is known to have other aliases Sceptre Gerry, Aretwo Deetwo and Seethree Peaohh. 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. Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. Rather than pay customers via bank wires, they were told to come to a nondescript building in Laval, Quebec to pick up the cash. He is believed to have carried out Ponzi scheme scams since he was just 15 - such as playing a role in pre-crypto digital token eGold, according to investigator Amy Castor. A Canadian bank froze another $21 million of funds. Given the mysterious circumstances of his deathand the enormous amount of money he controlledits no surprise that conspiracies quickly sprang up in an attempt to piece together the puzzles around his death. 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". ", He added: "We thought we were looking for basically a rich guy who had stolen money, Now either [Cotten is] dead, or if hes alive, hes a gambling addict whos broke.". But the mingling didnt end there: the crypto kingpin also allegedly mixed client money with his own, according to investigators, funding the lavish lifestyle he became known for. (Neither men were charged in connection with Liberty Reserve). 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. In December 2018, Cotten died during his honeymoon with his wife, Jennifer Robertson, in Jaipur, India. Retrieved 18 January 2022. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Now . Using a reputable custodian to hold the private keys outside the company is perhaps the best option to ensure these codes are not lost, Erik Wilgenhof Plante, the former CCO of the exchange BeQuant, told The Independent at the time. lets break it all down. My sisters not a liar.. His body was repatriated to . He would then use this crypto to make investments himself on other digital exchanges as he furnished his own pockets at the expense of his investors, according to accounting firm Ernst & Young. seeks to unravel the mystery of Gerald Cotten, the CEO of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, who died in 2018. Some also believe that Gerald isnt even dead at all but rather hiding away with the hundreds of millions of dollars he controlled. The OSC tugged on the same thread, but neither could get hold of him. But, due to the strict security of crypto, we may never know. It sucks.". He appointed his wife as the executor of his estate, handing over a $9million real estate empire, his yacht and his Cessna plane - and he even left his two dogs an inheritance of $100,000. Evidence of him faking death: There's lots of bizaare things that are suspicious. 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. Did Cotten fake his own death, investors began to ask, absconding to lands anew under a new name and a surgically rejigged face? [17][29] Bloomberg also identified Patryn as Dhanani, showing that he had officially changed his name from Omar Dhanani to Omar Patryn in British Columbia in March 2003 and changed it again to Michael Patryn in October 2008. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). The thing is, a CEOs death shouldnt lock customers out of their money. Netflix has tried to get to the bottom of things in its, Trust No One depicts Cotten as a nerdy, happy-go-lucky, and charming CEO, who was knee-deep in, reporter that the banks, which didnt trust crypto exchanges, had, The investors found more questions than answers. [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. Criminal probes continue by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI as leading digital investing publication Coindesk branded his death as the "crypto's biggest mystery". Furious investors continue to fight a legal battle to try and have Cotten's body exhumed as they believe his death was a cut and run scam. I'm 99% sure he is still alive living nicely. "It did become an obsession.. "You appear dead for a few days, until you get the cure," the source said. Widow of Quadriga crypto founder Gerald Cotten says she had no idea about the $215-million scam In an exclusive interview, Jennifer Robertson speaks out publicly about her deceased husband,. [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. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. The OSC. 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. Investors tried to pull their money from Quadriga, but sometimes faced month-long delays. Re-thinking indemnification for smart contract risks", "Bitcoin investors face long delays cashing out, criticize two B.C. He and his wife, Jennifer Robertson, jetted all over the world on private planes, visiting chic locales in Paris, Hawaii, and Morocco. Lived In Los Angeles CA, Austin TX, Van Nuys CA . I just prayed. Gerald Cotten died suddenly of Crohn's disease - or did he? Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. He was one of the wealthiest people in the crypto world, and his company was at its pinnacle. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. Cotten In 2013 was looking for a programmer to help him create a bitcoin marketplace using the account name Murdoch1337 on a BlackHat Forum and this account was last seen active in August 2019 at this point he should have been "dead" for a long time. You get rid of a lot of the regulations, he said on a podcast in 2014. Even today, some investors remain unconvinced that Cotten really is dead. Where was the rest of the money? TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING, a DONT F*CK WITH CATS-style investigative thriller, is now streaming on Netflix. And meanwhile, Dead Man's Switch director Sheona McDonald said: "There's only two people who really know what happened in India.". 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. There were other problems around that time. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. Shortly after, the exchange stopped working entirely. Exit Scam host Aaron Lammer told CoinDesk: "My read was that, on some level, Gerry was addicted to scamming, "Addicted to stealing peoples money. Ernst & Young was able to recover $24m in cash and $9m in assets held by Robertson. 4 people named Gerald Betzen found in California, Texas and Massachusetts. I believe this is the reason why Quadriga could be formed because they made a fortune from Scamming before Quadriga. Gerald Cotten was the founder of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Quadriga CX. The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. [19], Some Reddit users have suggested that Cotten faked his own death in order to defraud customers through an exit scam, while others believe that Cotten's death exposed a Ponzi scheme. Fifteen years later, Mr Cotten, known as Gerry, would be accused of swindling people online of a much bigger prize. Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. Here's a link to the BlackHat forum. Cryptocurrency investors locked out of $190m after exchange founder dies, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. [15] He learned about Bitcoin in Toronto and travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he founded Quadriga in November 2013 with Michael Patryn. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. , initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. Gerald Cotten. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. 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. Robertsons sister, for the record, doesnt think that Cotten had fabricated his relationship with Jennifer. #GeraldCotten #QuadrigaCX #Netflix #truecrime #wherearetheynow #gerrycotten #crypto #fraud #docuseries #truestory #biography #whathappenedto ------------------------------------IN THIS VIDEO:Sierra Walker ------------------------------------PRODUCER \u0026 FILMED BY:Chris Stiuso------------------------------------VIDEO EDITED BY:Brianna Raakman: https://www.instagram.com/brianna_raakman/ Customers have since struggled to regain access to their money, citing withdrawl issues and lack of communication from the company. Did he Die? There is a clear lesson here that having a single person owning this information creates a huge vulnerability.. About C$1.2 billion worth of bitcoin was exchanged on Quadriga. reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. goes to Cottens hospital in India to put the whole fake death thing to bed. A new documentary on his mysterious death called Dead Man's Switch: A Crypto Mystery, airing on Discovery+, looks into accusations the crypto king made off with millions in investors' cash. So the. [42], Quadriga continued to accept deposits until 26 January. Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' will be released sometime in 2022. The media dragged Gerald Cotten's wife, Jennifer Robertson, into the spotlight after his mysterious death. According to the documentary, thats around the time that Cotten started to invest his money in islands, cars and property, traveling the world while running his exchange. Gerald Cotten was 15 when he ran his first documented get-rich-quick scheme. Business picked up when Bitcoin hit the big time in 2017, reaching prices close to $20,000. So, Patryn: shit-stirrer, criminal mastermind or another one beguiled by Cotten? Jilted investors of Cotton's crypto firm QuadrigaCX have demanded his corpse be exhumed and tests run to confirm its his body. Lawyers for customers of an insolvent cryptocurrency exchange have asked police to exhume the body of the companys founder, amid efforts to recover about $190m in Bitcoin which were locked in an online black hole after his death. Wood ordered a "30-day stay that precludes filing of claims against Quadriga", which is a temporary legal protection from its creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, a legal status that allows insolvent corporations to restructure their business and financial affairs. "[46] The Official Ontario Securities report on Quadriga is attached here. Was the CEOknown for his luxurious lifestyle, which included jets, supercars and vacationsmurdered by a mob debt collector or a jealous lover?