His clients were locked out of about $250 million, and investigators later. His death certificate spells his name wrong, he was supposedly buried in a closed casket in Canada even though there is no evidence his body was ever moved from India and why would it need to be a closed casket? Companies have backups, safeguards to protect against this kind of thing. , 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. Cotten passed away from complications that arose from Crohns disease while on a honeymoon in Indiaapparently taking some $215 million of customer funds to the grave. They surfed his social media accounts at first, then traced Cottens digital footprints even more closely for clues. seeks to unravel the mystery of Gerald Cotten, the CEO of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, who died in 2018. [17] In June 2017, Quadriga announced that they had lost ethereum worth US$14 million due to a smart contract error. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix | Where Are They Now?Subscribe Here! However, in 2018, Bitcoin prices crashed and many began withdrawing their funds from Quadriga, except they were being met with error messages before the exchanges website stopped working in 2019. Now Cottens jet-set lifestyle looked suspicious. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The estate includes an airplane, a sailboat, a 2017 Lexus, and real estate in Nova Scotia and Kelowna, British Columbia. Here's my take on Gerald Cotten and his suspicious death. There was no autopsy on the body, for instance, and Cotten had signed his will two weeks after he diedleaving his riches to Jennifer. 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. 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. We just send money from our Bitcoin app directly to those paper wallets, and keep it safe that way. 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 company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. The podcast was reported by Aaron Lammer and Lane Brown.[55]. On the 9th, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest. The business was run from Cotten's encrypted laptop from Cotten's home in Fall River, Nova Scotia. Despite presenting himself as mild mannered and clean cut, Cotten was found to have had a history of carrying out financial cons - starting when he was just a teenager. Still, questions about the missing money only mounted when two. 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. No one but him can access accounts, he ran a whole market on a laptop by himself with no other employees or partners anymore so only he could access it and he suddenly dies when he would be in massive debt for delayed payments and would likely be convicted for fraud or money laundering. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. , one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. And with the mystery of Quadriga still being unraveled by the Feds, Mounties, amateur sleuths and investigative journalists - the question remains what happened to Cotten? You transferred them $1,000 and you could see the crypto in your account. And why did the Indian hospital that treated Cotten misspell his name on his death certificate? It apparently had no formal accounting system. Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars worth of his investors' Bitcoin funds. He launched QuadrigaCX in 2013, and it quickly became one of the largest crypto exchanges. He was able to keep the venture, called S&S Investments, going for three months, before it folded and investors money was gone. [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. [24][25][26], According to court filings, Quadriga also used WB21 as a payment processor. did gerry and his wife fake his passing and steal the money? She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. [37] According to an affidavit by the CEO's widow, approximately 115,000 customers are owed C$250 million (US$190 million), most of which was cryptocurrency held in Quadriga's cold wallet in the laptop that only the deceased CEO had access to. [3][4][5], Quadriga likely never invested the funds entrusted to it, according to Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency tracking firm. The accounting firm Ernst & Young, tasked with auditing the company as it undergoes bankruptcy proceedings, discovered numerous money-losing trades executed by Cotten, using customers funds. [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. Likewise, the public was not much intrigued about their lives up until . [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. 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". Facebook / Remembering Gerry Cotten In the weeks since Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp. belatedly made his death public, the exchange's furious users have raised questions. [52], The CBC released a 6-episode podcast about Quadriga and the death of its founder called A Death in Cryptoland. [45], In June 2020, the Ontario Securities Commission officially concluded that Quadriga was indeed a fraud and a Ponzi scheme. In that case, $851 million entrusted to Crypto Capital had been "lost, stolen or absconded with", according to the suit. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even real? Official investigations into the matter have yet to produce any definitive answers. 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. My sisters not a liar.. The streaming service announced the feature alongside a slate of upcoming true-crime projects last week. All Filters. 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. Jennifer, scared for her safety, entered a safe house. Then, the crypto millionaire suddenly died in India from complications from Crohn's disease about three years ago. 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. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. [42], Quadriga continued to accept deposits until 26 January. Dying from Crohn's disease when only 1.6% of sufferers from this disease die of it and to happen to die from . He graduated from York with a bachelor of business administration in 2010. Check out: Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. 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. I just prayed. In January 2014 they installed the second Bitcoin ATM in Vancouver. Even today, some investors remain unconvinced that Cotten really is dead. Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with. 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,. I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. The only catch: only Gerry knew the passwords to the companys crypto-vaults. Gerald died while on a honeymoon with his wife Jennifer in India, Cotten has been recast since his death as a thrill-seeking scammer, Michael Patryn - real name Omar Dhanani - had previously been convicted of identity fraud, Bitcoin miner electrocuted to death by his computer after forcing it to churn out endless amounts of crypto. His body was embalmed and sent back to Canada for a closed-casket funeral. The two first met in November 2014 and had been together for some time before tying the knot in October 2018. The sudden death of Gerald Cotten in December 2018 plunged the world of cryptocurrency into chaos. Both Canadas tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company. 4 people named Gerald Betzen found in California, Texas and Massachusetts. Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The media dragged Gerald Cotten's wife, Jennifer Robertson, into the spotlight after his mysterious death. When Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly last year, hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds vanished into the crypto ether. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Image Credit: CTV Your Morning/YouTube. Some evidence suggested that Jennifer, if real, was acting strangely. "I kept asking them: Where's my money? Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? Directed by Luke Sewell, the original Netflix documentary Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King follows a group of cryptocurrency investors hired to investigate the death of exchange founder Gerry Cotten and the alleged $250 million that he stole from them. The podcast was hosted by Takara Small. X-rays. 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. NOW WATCH: Netflix is headed for a huge profit milestone in 2018, Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. His wife has said she was "upset and disappointed" to learn about the extent of the fraud at her husbands company, writing in a 2019 statement, she wasnt aware or involved in Gerrys trading activities, nor his appropriation of customer funds." The doctor stated that while dying from Crohns disease is very rare, Cotten appeared to show signs of illness and suffered from three heart attacks in the same day the paramedics were unable to resuscitate him after his third cardiac arrest. Customers have since struggled to regain access to their money, citing withdrawl issues and lack of communication from the company. Premieres in 2022 pic.twitter.com/rP9iFJHkWm. Fourteen trading accounts that were also examined were used to trade on other exchanges. Mar. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. Gerald died while on a honeymoon with his wife Je [9][10], The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were reportedly investigating the company. "You appear dead for a few days, until you get the cure," the source said. ", 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. Jilted investors in a defunct cryptocurrency company want to confirm the death of the business's founder by exhuming his remains. A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. Bankruptcy trustees have managed to recover around $34million from Quadriga and $12million in assests from Cotten's estate - but the rest remains locked away in the digital world of crypto. A new Netflix true-crime documentary is tackling a bizarre story from the world of cryptocurrency. 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. [2], In January 2019 Ernst & Young reported that Quadriga did not have a bank account, but instead used third-party payment processors. The tech whiz however didn't even need to do it - being an early believer in crypto, he likely would have got rich without the need to scam people. [30], According to Jennifer Robertson, Cotten's widow, he died on 9 December 2018 while travelling in India. [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. [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. But pour in it did. And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. A sneak preview of the Netflix doc contains images that suggest the documentary will show the investors dive deeper into these conspiracies. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. [21], Throughout 2018, as Bitcoin prices crashed, customers of the exchange reported delays when attempting to withdraw dollars. "So far, nothing's been found. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' will be released sometime in 2022. Rather than pay customers via bank wires, they were told to come to a nondescript building in Laval, Quebec to pick up the cash. Its pretty much money by people for people.. Some speculate that Cotten, who suffered with Crohn's disease, might actually be alive. He convinced tons of investors to fork over their money so he could invest it into Crypto. pic.twitter.com/rGymJ5f9Or. Re-thinking indemnification for smart contract risks", "Bitcoin investors face long delays cashing out, criticize two B.C. About C$1.2 billion worth of bitcoin was exchanged on Quadriga. Finally, the OSC discovered something that cracked the case wide open. He appointed Peter Wedlake of Grant Thornton to be chief restructuring officer. The young entrepreneur seemed to be at the height of his success, traveling around the world with his wife, Jennifer, and leading a jet-setting lifestyle. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, A lost password, a sudden death and $180M in missing crypto, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, 50 cash with friend referrals at Virgin Mobile, 15% off extra plans with this Vodafone promo, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Shortly after, the exchange stopped working entirely. So the. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. ", "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? November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. In court filings, it was revealed that Mr Cottens email was listed as Midas Golds contact. Indian authorities maintain that Cotten, whose body was repatriated to Nova Scotia for a small closed-casket funeral, died on Dec. 9, 2018, shortly after checking into a luxury hotel in Jaipur. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . goes to Cottens hospital in India to put the whole fake death thing to bed. An official investigation concluded that Quadriga was"an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology". In her memoir, Ms Robertson denies shes part of an elaborate plot to fake her husbands death, adding that speculation has led to death threats from stalkers demanding she returns the missing millions. At the time, he was the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a company that performed cryptocurrency exchanges. While the large increase in volume increased commissions, it also caused cash-flow problems due to the exchange's reliance on external payment processors and its lack of a proper accounting system. Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange.In 2019 the exchange ceased operations and the company filed for bankruptcy with C$215.7 million in liabilities and about C$28 million in assets.. There's also other posts on his Murdoch1337 account that are weird he asks for people to sell him old reddit accounts presumably because he would use these alt accounts to downvote people trying to slander his company or he would make posts on these alts saying how great Quadriga is. Was a recently-active Skype account proof he was still alive? So what exactly happened to Cotten, and is he still alive somewhere sitting on a mountain of stolen crypto? It has led the pack of other streaming giants, producing the most projects in the true-crime genre as of 2020. Netflixs latest true crime documentary, Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King, has arrived on the streaming platforms extensive catalog of intriguing documentaries. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. Since his death, Cotten has been recast as a habitual scammer who would enjoy the thrill of knowing he was duping his customers and investors. The 33-year-old has attempted to get his money back in a lawsuit, but hasn't had any luck as yet. But when co-founder Cotten died during a honeymoon in India, the money was seemingly lost forever. 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. Then, as their accounts accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars, Gerald passed unexpectedly, taking the passwords to the accounts to his grave. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even. I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. https://bit.ly/3cAIH4j Newest Vid's https://bit.ly/3JkFmEqFollow Us On Facebook https://bit.ly/3oh5cS8Gerald Cotten or Gerry Cotten's life and tragic passing are shrouded in mystery. Cotton took with him to the grave the keys that allowed access to the digital vault containing his investors cash that they had ploughed into Quadriga CX. We pay for your stories! 5 Despite no concrete evidenceindeed, the murdered mans first name was not the same as Robertsons ex-husband, some angry investors lobbed death threats at Jennifer, convinced that she had murdered Cotten, too. His body was repatriated to Canada and a funeral was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Gerald Cotten was the founder of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Quadriga CX. Cryptocurrency investors locked out of $190m after exchange founder dies, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Cbc.ca. Here's a link to the BlackHat forum. I believe this is the reason why Quadriga could be formed because they made a fortune from Scamming before Quadriga. The crypto entrepreneur bought increasingly lavish purchases: a $600,000 yacht, a high-end Lexus, 17 homes in Canada, a plane. 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. (India is notorious for forging fake death certificates by paying people off). The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. In December of 2018, the jet-setting crypto couple headed to India for their honeymoon, where Mr Cotten died of complications from Crohns disease, 12 days after modifying his will. 29 2022, Published 3:03 p.m. lets break it all down. Gerald Cotten was 15 when he ran his first documented get-rich-quick scheme. One of the Globe reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. Quadriga started by doing only local trades. In 2019 the exchange ceased operations and the company filed for bankruptcy with C$215.7 million in liabilities and about C$28 million in assets. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Cottens death will likely remain a mystery, with some believing that he is still residing somewhere in the world with the stolen money. I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. But, due to the strict security of crypto, we may never know. [38][39], According to some of Cotten's family members, there was a crypto "Dead man's switch" that would provide Quadriga with operating information in the event of his death; however, "neither the monitor nor others involved with the organization are aware of a dead-man switch email having been received. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. He first encountered Bitcoin in Vancouver, British . The user said that he left the company in 2016, and that the company was legitimate at the time. #GeraldCottenReallyDead #GeraldCottenStillAliveGerald Cotten Really Dead ? "I could have invested it in real estate. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, was thought to have had sole access to the funds and coins exchanged on it. that after 2016, QuadrigaCX stopped producing consistent data about its holdings, and that large volumes of cryptocurrencies were being sent to foreign crypto exchanges. [17] Michael Gastauer, Chief Executive of WB21, has been named in a civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a US$165 million fraud. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out. In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King". 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. Gerald Cotten is still alive (proof) I remember exactly 2 and a half weeks ago, someone on this subreddit that was jokingly talking about gerald said "Watch Quadriga say that they can't access cold wallets because Gerald died and he was the only one with access to the keys". He graduated from York in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Investors who believed that Cotten had faked his own death and ran away with the money had made one huge assumption: that Cotten had money to steal. Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. [17][20], In 2017, Bitcoin experienced a speculative frenzy rising in price from about US$1,000 to almost US$20,000. The firm launched in 2014 amid a spectacular rise in the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and was handling $1 billion in trades by 2017. Gerald Cotten is allegedly meant to have died from Crohn's disease after the exchange crashed. Quadriga had four employees in 2015 with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, but ran out of money by June 2015. Indeed, QuadrigaCX launched just three months after sceptre put out a call to build a crypto exchange. Either the funds were never received or quickly went missing. Overcast with rain showers at times. Customers reported that once they arrived, there was nobody in the office, or that there was no cash to be disbursed.
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