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. 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? Then, out of the blue, one Mike Patryn joined the Telegram group that investors were using to discuss conspiracies. The thing about conspiracy theories, though, is that they mutate out of control very quickly, and arent always reflective of the latest evidence. It comes as we revealed some of the world's biggest crypto scams following the case of Bitcoin tradersRaees Cajee, 21 and Ameer, 18,who fledSouth Africa after allegedly pocketing 2.5billion. The doctor, reported the Globe, initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. Cryptocurrency investors locked out of $190m after exchange founder dies, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. There's a small chance that someone was investigating his old accounts and that they accessed his BlackHat but it's very unlikely. firms", "What happens when your bitcoin banker dies? Gerald and Jennifer kept most of their relationship away from the public. 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.. A new Netflix true-crime documentary is tackling a bizarre story from the world of cryptocurrency. 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". Quadriga's accounts are estimated to have held 190million ($250million). It stated that Gerald Cotten committed fraud by opening accounts under aliases and crediting himself with fictitious currency and crypto asset balances, which he traded with unsuspecting clients and that "What happened at Quadriga was an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology. Cotten had allegedly told his wife he would create a mechanism that would allow her to access all of his crypto-related passwords should he die but. November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, was thought to have had sole access to the funds and coins exchanged on it. Premieres in 2022 pic.twitter.com/rP9iFJHkWm. at the time Canadas largest cryptocurrency exchange, Gerald Cotten, 30, died in questionable circumstances, Canadian company founder took crucial password to the grave. His death left investors locked out of their money and left Jennifer Robertson, Gerry's wife . Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. Lawyers representing investors in what BBC. The dude literally said that comment as a complete joke, and I even . And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. He was one of the wealthiest people in the crypto world, and his company was at its pinnacle. A C$24.7 million disbursement fund has been planned with C$300,000 to go to Cotten's widow, Jennifer Robertson, who advanced that amount to start the court proceedings; C$200,000 will go to Ernst & Young and another C$250,000 to its lawyers; C$229,842 will go to Quadriga's lawyers; and C$17,000 to independent contractors. 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. Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. Gerald Cotten, 30, died abruptly in December 2018 of complications relating to Crohns disease while on honeymoon in Jaipur, India, with his wife, Jennifer Robertson. Lammer believes the evidence does suggest that Cotten died suddenly - having battled Crohn's disease for a number of years, even though the timing was suspicious. [42], Quadriga continued to accept deposits until 26 January. Despite no concrete evidenceindeed, the murdered mans. April 2, 2022 Netflix Nobody was expecting Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian Bitcoin exchange QuadrigaCX, to die at 30. 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. Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with stealing millions from Quadrigas customers. 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. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King is now streaming on Netflix. CIBC stated that they could not determine the ownership of the money and could not contact Cotten or Quadriga. 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. March 30, 2022. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? It essentially removes the need for a central authority. The business was run from Cotten's encrypted laptop from Cotten's home in Fall River, Nova Scotia. [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. 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. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. 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. [51], A documentary titled Dead Man's Switch: A Crypto Mystery about the story of Gerald Cotten premiered at the 2021 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. 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. You transferred them $1,000 and you could see the crypto in your account. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops delivered daily to your inbox. A NEW documentary on rogue crypto trader Gerald Cotton, who took up to $215million in Bitcoin and other digital currencies to his grave, has sparked rumours he may have faked his death. No longer a likable nerd, investors thought that Gerald, now sceptre, had been operating scams since he was 15. [42] Another three empty wallets were believed to possibly be owned by Quadriga. (Neither men were charged in connection with Liberty Reserve). When Taylor Monahan, founder of MyCrypto, examined the exchanges cold wallets, she couldnt find the lost crypto. 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. Some 76,000 investors like Zou collectively lost out. [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. 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. [24][25][26], According to court filings, Quadriga also used WB21 as a payment processor. ", "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? 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. Either this is a 1 in 100 million coincidence or he is still alive. He was able to keep the venture, called S&S Investments, going for three months, before it folded and investors money was gone. He was 30-years-old. [11] Lawyers for the customers of the exchange have asked that Cotten's body be exhumed.[12]. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten died in 2018, taking password to access funds with him Credit: Netflix. 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. "Once I deposited it, it was basically gone.". The two first met in November 2014 and had been together for some time before tying the knot in October 2018. [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. 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. She had accompanied him to a hospital in Jaipur the previous day and he was diagnosed with septic shock, perforation, peritonitis, and intestinal obstruction. 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. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. He first encountered Bitcoin in Vancouver, British . - Watch Full Details ! There was no autopsy on the body, for instance, and Cotten had signed his will two weeks after he diedleaving his riches to Jennifer. 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. "It did become an obsession.. Angry and suspicious investors congregated on Reddit and Telegram to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. 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. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. Quadriga's customers are owed C$260 million in cryptocurrency and cash. 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. Mar. Netflix Special on Bitcoin Fraudster Gerald Cotten, His Wife, and QuadrigaCX. But Bitcoin crashed at the end of 2018, and Cottens flashy lifestyle needed cash to sustain itself. Both Canadas tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company. lets break it all down. Thats when the Globe started to be convinced that he was dead, after all. It was alleged that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different nameOmar Dhanani. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. 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. "At that point, we were desperate to recover funds and we were also convinced that a scam was underway," said QCX-INT, an individual who uncovered online documentation of Mr Cottens history of fraudulent behaviour, speaking anonymously to the CBC this year. Then, as their accounts accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars, Gerald passed unexpectedly, taking the passwords to the accounts to his grave. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Cbc.ca. Here's a link to the BlackHat forum. Fourteen trading accounts that were also examined were used to trade on other exchanges. 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. 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. The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. Neither Costodian or Quadriga could access the funds. 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. However, it was eventually discovered that Gerald had transferred all of his belongings to his wife before his death. Gerald Cleophas Betzen, 68. [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. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? Cotten was young, energetic, passionate about cryptocurrency so when. 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. Robertson has not been accused of any wrongdoing - and has denied any knowledge of her husband's business dealings. A computer issue wiped $14 million of Ethereum off the exchange. But the money, of course, was still missing. And meanwhile, Dead Man's Switch director Sheona McDonald said: "There's only two people who really know what happened in India.". 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. 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. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. 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". The couple were on their honeymoon in India, where Jennifer had dreams of opening an orphanage. So what exactly happened to Cotten, and is he still alive somewhere sitting on a mountain of stolen crypto? And for some, things still looked suspicious. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider He passed away in 2018 with the secret of $250 million. In court filings, it was revealed that Mr Cottens email was listed as Midas Golds contact. 29 2022, Published 3:03 p.m. So the. Netflixs documentary definitely seems to be in the corner that Cotten did die, despite the mystery surrounding his death. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. His will was signed off just two weeks before he and wife Jennifer Robertson travelled to India on their honeymoon. Then Cotten took a turn for the worse: he went into cardiac arrest three times; the third time, the doctors couldnt revive him and declared him dead. Some also believe that Gerald isnt even dead at all but rather hiding away with the hundreds of millions of dollars he controlled. A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. I believe this is the reason why Quadriga could be formed because they made a fortune from Scamming before Quadriga. So his spiral down into a life of crime was either pure greed or him seeking the thrill. 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. NOW WATCH: Netflix is headed for a huge profit milestone in 2018, Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. There was no way of getting my money back. Customers reported that once they arrived, there was nobody in the office, or that there was no cash to be disbursed. ET. The circumstances are dodgy that they chose to honeymoon to India and he suddenly dies from complications of Crohn's disease. A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. ", 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.". [19] Other than a few contractors, it had no employees, offices or bank accounts thereafter. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. He appointed Peter Wedlake of Grant Thornton to be chief restructuring officer. Citing decomposition concerns, lawyers requested the exhumation be completed no later than spring 2020. 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. Did Cotten fake his own death, investors began to ask, absconding to lands anew under a new name and a surgically rejigged face? I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. Subsequent investigations found that Michael Patryn, one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. [17] In June 2017, Quadriga announced that they had lost ethereum worth US$14 million due to a smart contract error. 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. Re-thinking indemnification for smart contract risks", "Bitcoin investors face long delays cashing out, criticize two B.C. 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. Companies have backups, safeguards to protect against this kind of thing. She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. So, Patryn: shit-stirrer, criminal mastermind or another one beguiled by Cotten? Further complicating the matter the company's co-founder Michael Patryn was revealed to actually be a man named Omar Dhanani, who had previously been convicted in the US of identity fraud. It sucks.". 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,. 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. [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. 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.