Quadriga CX was left owning its 76,000 investors around $215million (CAD). We just send money from our Bitcoin app directly to those paper wallets, and keep it safe that way. [17] In June 2017, Quadriga announced that they had lost ethereum worth US$14 million due to a smart contract error. Living a jet set life, he cruised the world on yachts, flew in private jets and investigators even released photos of piles of cash on his kitchen table. By Robin Hill-Gray. , initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. Here Is Why People Think Gerald Cotten Is Still Alive: The Death Gerald Cotten. Fourteen trading accounts that were also examined were used to trade on other exchanges. 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. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. Investors tried to pull their money from Quadriga, but sometimes faced month-long delays. 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. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. The Secret Life and Strange Death of Quadriga Founder Gerald Cotten Indeed, QuadrigaCX launched just three months after sceptre put out a call to build a crypto exchange. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? We pay for your stories! 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. 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. She had accompanied him to a hospital in Jaipur the previous day and he was diagnosed with septic shock, perforation, peritonitis, and intestinal obstruction. 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. did gerry and his wife fake his passing and steal the money? Gerald Cotten, 30, died abruptly in December 2018 of complications relating to Crohn's disease while on honeymoon in Jaipur, India, with his wife, Jennifer Robertson. Gerald Cotten was the founder of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Quadriga CX. Then in January, 2019, Cottens wife Jennifer Robertson announced that he had died a month earlier. It certainly started to look like fraud, said one anonymous investor in the doc. His death left investors locked out of their money and left Jennifer Robertson, Gerry's wife . He was one of the wealthiest people in the crypto world, and his company was at its pinnacle. Mr Cottens story is now the subject of the documentary Dead Mans Switch: A Crypto Mystery, which streams on Discovery+, and in the new memoir of wife Jennifer Robertson, Bitcoin Widow: Love, Betrayal and the Missing Millions. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Gerald Cleophas Betzen, 68. Uncertainty about the missing funds has fueled speculation that Cotten may still be alive. Shortly after, the exchange stopped working entirely. But pour in it did. Even after Cotten's death news, some people still believe that he is alive, and one of the main reasons is because of his mysterious death. Some also believe that Gerald isnt even dead at all but rather hiding away with the hundreds of millions of dollars he controlled. She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. 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? 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. lets break it all down. 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. Gerald Cotten. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. [50], Quadriga's lawyer, the firm Stewart McKelvey, withdrew from the case due to a potential conflict of interest. It was a perfect match, sparked up on Tinder, she said in the documentary. 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. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere, she said in court filings. [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. 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. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. 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. Netflix's 'Trust No One': Who Was QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotten? In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. Netflix Special Explores Gerald Cotten's Wife and the QuadrigaCX Scandal Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Both Canadas tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company. 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. His will was signed off just two weeks before he and wife Jennifer Robertson travelled to India on their honeymoon. [22][23] C$28 million held by Costodian, a Quadriga payment processor, was frozen by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in January 2018. 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. 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. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. ET. 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. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. Jennifer Robertson (Quadriga) - Wikipedia The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. One of the Globe reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. I just prayed. Was a recently-active Skype account proof he was still alive? He launched QuadrigaCX in 2013, and it quickly became one of the largest crypto exchanges. For instance, had Cottens death certificate, which spelled his name as Cottan, been faked? "I couldn't get any sleep. Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk, Ring removes free perks for millions of users, you'll have pay to get them back, Android users told check for five Google 'danger phrases' don't ignore list, Facebook's hidden list reveals if you're a 'target' for criminals, People are just realizing Apple upgraded the iPhone with 7 life-changing secrets, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Tong Zou tells his devastating story in new Netflix doc, Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten died in 2018, taking password to access funds with him. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). [49], On 5 March 2019, Justice Wood extended Quadriga's court protection to 23 April. Given the intrigue, some went so far as to question whether Mr Cotten had really died and demanded his body be exhumed. I lost $500,000 life savings in cryptocurrency after 'trader DIED with Gerald and Jennifer kept most of their relationship away from the public. Something was afoot. 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. 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. [17], Ernst & Young reported on 6 February 2019 that C$468,675 (US$354,300) of bitcoin were "inadvertently" sent to an inaccessible cold wallet. "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King". Where was the rest of the money? Two years after Liberty Reserve was taken down, the pair launched Quadriga, though Mr Patryn left the company in 2016 over a dispute on whether to list the company publicly and claims no involvement in the resulting schemes. The thing is, a CEOs death shouldnt lock customers out of their money. 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. 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. When Taylor Monahan, founder of MyCrypto, examined the exchanges cold wallets, she couldnt find the lost crypto. 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. But the money, of course, was still missing. 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. Cotten told a Globe and Mail reporter that the banks, which didnt trust crypto exchanges, had frozen the exchanges bank accounts. [15] He learned about Bitcoin in Toronto and travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he founded Quadriga in November 2013 with Michael Patryn. Conspiracy theorists insist that Cotten faked his own death, however, as many irregularities surrounding his death began to circulate, including a copy of his misspelled death certificate and the fact that his funeral had a closed casket. 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. His body was repatriated to Canada and a funeral was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. [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. The funeral, according to a Redditor claiming to be a contractor for QuadrigaCX, said that it was a closed-casket affair, and that Jennifer was fake grieving and dancing at the funeral to bacchanalian excess, and even kicked out Geralds family. 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. Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Its pretty much money by people for people.. Mar. 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. Was he avoiding something or someone? Browse Locations. [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. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. [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. Business picked up when Bitcoin hit the big time in 2017, reaching prices close to $20,000. 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. Gerald Cotten's body should be exhumed, investors in QuadrigaCX tell 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. Still, questions about the missing money only mounted when two Globe and Mail reporters followed up on the case. It was alleged that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different nameOmar Dhanani. So, Patryn: shit-stirrer, criminal mastermind or another one beguiled by Cotten? In that case, $851 million entrusted to Crypto Capital had been "lost, stolen or absconded with", according to the suit. [45], In June 2020, the Ontario Securities Commission officially concluded that Quadriga was indeed a fraud and a Ponzi scheme. Cbc.ca. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King is now streaming on Netflix. Cottens death will likely remain a mystery, with some believing that he is still residing somewhere in the world with the stolen money. What Happened to Jennifer Robertson and Where Is Gerald Cotten's Wife Now? CRYPTO scams are popping up all over the internet. 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. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out. The podcast was reported by Aaron Lammer and Lane Brown.[55]. [24][25][26], According to court filings, Quadriga also used WB21 as a payment processor. Crypto CEO's Mysterious Death Will Be Made Into Netflix Doc Thats when the. (Neither men were charged in connection with Liberty Reserve). Gerald Cotten (born 11 May 1988)[14] lived in Belleville, Ontario before attending the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. Investors want QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten's remains exhumed The laptop computer from which Gerry carried out the companies business is encrypted and I do not know the password or recovery key. You get rid of a lot of the regulations, he said on a podcast in 2014. Things began to sour, however, in 2018, when the price of Bitcoin collapsed. Gerald died while on a honeymoon with his wife Je The circumstances sparked speculation from some in the crypto community that the CEO faked his death and stole his clients' money. A Canadian bank froze another $21 million of funds. 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". Quadriga's customers are owed C$260 million in cryptocurrency and cash. But when co-founder Cotten died during a honeymoon in India, the money was seemingly lost forever. 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. I believe this is the reason why Quadriga could be formed because they made a fortune from Scamming before Quadriga. Did he Die? The estate includes an airplane, a sailboat, a 2017 Lexus, and real estate in Nova Scotia and Kelowna, British Columbia. [16] In 2014 only C$7.4 million worth of bitcoin were exchanged on Quadriga. 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. Lawyers representing investors in what BBC. 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