Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. He was 30-years-old. 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. Mar. 29 2022, Published 3:03 p.m. Sign up for notifications from Insider! 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. 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. 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. Dying from Crohn's disease when only 1.6% of sufferers from this disease die of it and to happen to die from . I ended up losing my life savings I lost $400,000, Tong Zou, a tech worker quoted in the film, says. His death certificate was issued by the Indian authorities and contains an incorrect spelling of his name. Like many in the industry, he framed his enterprise not merely as a financial tool, but a radical societal change, touting the crypto gospel in podcast appearances and videos on YouTube. that after 2016, QuadrigaCX stopped producing consistent data about its holdings, and that large volumes of cryptocurrencies were being sent to foreign crypto exchanges. [6], Ernst & Young was appointed as an independent monitor while Quadriga was granted temporary legal protection from its creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Stay up to date with what you want to know. I just prayed. 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. We pay for your stories! The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. And for some, things still looked suspicious. Widow of Quadriga crypto founder Gerald Cotten says she had no idea Gerald Cotten. A new Netflix true-crime documentary is tackling a bizarre story from the world of cryptocurrency. [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. Is Gerald Cotten really dead? A sneak preview of the Netflix doc contains images that suggest the documentary will show the investors dive deeper into these conspiracies. 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,. "I could have invested it in real estate. I could have put it in stocks. Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Cotten neglected to pass on the passwords to the accounts, and in 2019, when investigators tracked down Cotten's digital wallets, all the money was gone. Given the intrigue, some went so far as to question whether Mr Cotten had really died and demanded his body be exhumed. A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. How did Gerald Cotten die? A Quadriga mystery, from India to Canada and Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. The OSC tugged on the same thread, but neither could get hold of him. This was my entire savings, built through ten years of work, said one disgruntled customer in the doc. Robertson has not been accused of any wrongdoing - and has denied any knowledge of her husband's business dealings. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. The circumstances sparked speculation from some in the crypto community that the CEO faked his death and stole his clients' money. Gerald Cotten was 15 when he ran his first documented get-rich-quick scheme. Front Burner- Inside Canada's Crypto Mystery, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King, "Investigation of Quadriga cryptocurrency debacle turns up only $28 million in assets", "Nothing sinister about bitcoin company CEO's sudden death, friend says", "Troubled Bitcoin trader QuadrigaCX takes another bizarre turn", "Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga seeks creditor protection", "Bitcoin Accounts for 95% of Cryptocurrency Crime, Says Analyst", "Crypto-Exchange Says It Can't Pay Investors Because Its C.E.O. He convinced tons of investors to fork over their money so he could invest it into Crypto. Now Cottens jet-set lifestyle looked suspicious. 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. [47], Gerald Cotten's widow has maintained that she knew nothing about her husband's activities and agreed to forfeit $12 million in assets. [42], Quadriga continued to accept deposits until 26 January. Subsequent investigations found that Michael Patryn, one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. His body was repatriated to . California (2) Massachusetts (1) Texas (2) Refine Your Search Results. A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. Uncertainty about the missing funds has fueled speculation that Cotten may still be alive. His death sparked online debates and string theories on Reddit and. In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. Here's my take on Gerald Cotten and his suspicious death. The OSC. Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. 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. ET. There is a clear lesson here that having a single person owning this information creates a huge vulnerability.. "[46] The Official Ontario Securities report on Quadriga is attached here. Even today, some investors remain unconvinced that Cotten really is dead. All Filters. On the 9th, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest. thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. But Cotten was a bad trader: losing money hand over fist, he gambled away about $150 million of customer funds. Its the swindler story you havent heard of until now. 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. 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. Here Is Why People Think Gerald Cotten Is Still Alive. [4] Blockchain analysts have reported that they are unable to find evidence of Quadriga's cold wallets on the blockchain, a public ledger used for cryptocurrencies. [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. It essentially removes the need for a central authority. "Once I deposited it, it was basically gone.". The Crypto King, aka Gerald "Gerry" Cotten, died in 2018, but his mysterious death is still a subject of controversy today. But when the banks, the law, and the. The circumstances are dodgy that they chose to honeymoon to India and he suddenly dies from complications of Crohn's disease. pic.twitter.com/rGymJ5f9Or. He is believed to have scooped around around $115million in crypto from his own accounts and put them into high risk financial bets - many of which crashed, costing him more money than Quadriga ever actually made. Despite no concrete evidenceindeed, the murdered mans. The crypto entrepreneur bought increasingly lavish purchases: a $600,000 yacht, a high-end Lexus, 17 homes in Canada, a plane. But the money, of course, was still missing. 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. It left Robertson the entire C$9.6-million estate and named her as the trustee. [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. Gerald Cotten was the talk of the cryptocurrency world in Canada after he introduced QuadrigaCX, a place where investors could buy and sell cryptocurrency. Quadriga's accounts are estimated to have held 190million ($250million). Both Canadas tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company. He was able to keep the venture, called S&S Investments, going for three months, before it folded and investors money was gone. I personally believe that Cotten is not dead but I would like to hear from people who know more than me about this topic and what they think about the situation. So far, only about $46 million has been recovered. Cottens death will likely remain a mystery, with some believing that he is still residing somewhere in the world with the stolen money. Netflix has tried to get to the bottom of things in its new 90-minute doc; read on to uncover the wild tale of Gerald Cotten. [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. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. Gerald Cotten's body should be exhumed, investors in QuadrigaCX tell Here Is Why People Think Gerald Cotten Is Still Alive: The Death The doctor, reported the Globe, initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. Finally, the OSC discovered something that cracked the case wide open. 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. The documentary follows a group of Quadriga investors turned sleuths who dig into the suspicious death of Cotten and the millions of missing cryptocurrency they believe Cotten stole from them, according to a tweet from Netflix announcing the film. Soon enough, QuadrigaCXs customers struggled to withdraw money from the exchange. [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. He graduated from York in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Some evidence suggested that Jennifer, if real, was acting strangely. I took out three loans from the bank and put it all into crypto. Have something to tell us about this article? Where was the rest of the money? Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. The Secret Life and Strange Death of Quadriga Founder Gerald Cotten We explain how to spot them. It was one of the only games in town [for crypto enthusiasts], Sheona McDonald, who directed the film, told The New York Post. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King is now streaming on Netflix. , initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING, a DONT F*CK WITH CATS-style investigative thriller, is now streaming on Netflix. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . I really prayed it wasn't a scam. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. 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. Jilted investors of Cotton's crypto firm QuadrigaCX have demanded his corpse be exhumed and tests run to confirm its his body. 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. Retrieved 18 January 2022. His wife Jennifer Robertson said he had promised to create a mechanism that turned thepasswords over to her when he died. Quadriga started by doing only local trades. ", "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? I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. It was a perfect match, sparked up on Tinder, she said in the documentary. 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. The thing is, a CEOs death shouldnt lock customers out of their money. The sudden death of Gerald Cotten in December 2018 plunged the world of cryptocurrency into chaos. [49], On 5 March 2019, Justice Wood extended Quadriga's court protection to 23 April. 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.. 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. He would grow up to be a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and run Canadas largest crypto exchange, QuadrigaCX, before dying under bizarre circumstances in 2018, leaving investors looking for a missing $180 million Canadian dollars. Image Credit: CTV Your Morning/YouTube. It has led the pack of other streaming giants, producing the most projects in the true-crime genre as of 2020. 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. [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. 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. [17] In a 2014 interview, founder Gerald Cotten explained that the company stored customer funds on paper wallets in safe deposit boxes: "So we just send money to them, we dont need to go back to the bank every time we want to put money into it. About C$1.2 billion worth of bitcoin was exchanged on Quadriga. 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. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. [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 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. November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. The two first met in November 2014 and had been together for some time before tying the knot in October 2018. - October, November, December - during all that time," he said. Where was the rest of the money? Gerald Cotten (born 11 May 1988)[14] lived in Belleville, Ontario before attending the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. Image Source: Social Media. He first encountered Bitcoin in Vancouver, British . Mystery of crypto CEO who died, taking $250 million with him Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. 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". When Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly last year, hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds vanished into the crypto ether. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. An official investigation concluded that Quadriga was"an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology". In December 2018, Cotten died during his honeymoon with his wife, Jennifer Robertson, in Jaipur, India. I'm 99% sure he is still alive living nicely. So what exactly happened to Cotten, and is he still alive somewhere sitting on a mountain of stolen crypto? 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. 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. 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' will be released sometime in 2022. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. started to be convinced that he was dead, after all. TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KINGFollow a group of investors turned sleuths as they try to unlock the suspicious death of cryptocurrency multimillionaire Gerry Cotten and the missing $250 million they believe he stole from them. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. March 30, 2022. There's only two people who really know what happened in India. Jennifer Robertson, the widow of QuadrigaCX founder Gerald (Gerry) Cotten, will be allowed to keep more than $90,000 cash and a Jeep Cherokee in a settlement agreement with the company's bankruptcy trustee. But months later, customers still couldnt take their money out. Gerald Cotten: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com [7] Meanwhile, in order to manage the finances of the company during the process, a third-party monitor, Ernst & Young, was appointed. 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. The only catch: only Gerry knew the passwords to the companys crypto-vaults.
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