Dhanani also had pleaded guilty to burglary and grand theft charges and had been deported to Canada. It was one of the only games in town [for crypto enthusiasts], Sheona McDonald, who directed the film, told The New York Post. His death left investors locked out of their money and left Jennifer Robertson, Gerry's wife . In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. 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. Cotten was young, energetic, passionate about cryptocurrency so when. 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? https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. [50], Quadriga's lawyer, the firm Stewart McKelvey, withdrew from the case due to a potential conflict of interest. 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. In January 2014 they installed the second Bitcoin ATM in Vancouver. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. "I couldn't get any sleep. Netflix has seen a boom with its true-crime docuseries, from 'Tiger King' to 'Making a Murderer.' Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. 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. [48], On 5 February 2019, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael J. , one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. Things began to sour, however, in 2018, when the price of Bitcoin collapsed. The couple were on their honeymoon in India, where Jennifer had dreams of opening an orphanage. 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 who dies from Crohns disease at 24 years old? A computer issue wiped $14 million of Ethereum off the exchange. 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. Mar. [2], In January 2019 Ernst & Young reported that Quadriga did not have a bank account, but instead used third-party payment processors. Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. 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.. The new documentary "Dead Man's Switch" looks at the mystery of Gerald Cotten, the QuadrigaCX CEO who unexpectedly died and some $250 in investors' money seemingly disappeared with him. 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. did gerry and his wife fake his passing and steal the money? Up to C$250 million (US$190 million) in cryptocurrency owed to 115,000 customers was missing[2] or could not be accessed because only Cotten held the password to off-line cold wallets. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix | Where Are They Now?Subscribe Here! A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. 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. Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars. 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. But when the banks, the law, and the. Stay up to date with what you want to know. On the 9th, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest. [17][20], In 2017, Bitcoin experienced a speculative frenzy rising in price from about US$1,000 to almost US$20,000. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere, she said in court filings. All Filters. She says she never received the passwords. Gerald Cotten is allegedly meant to have died from Crohn's disease after the exchange crashed. 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. Dying from Crohn's disease when only 1.6% of sufferers from this disease die of it and to happen to die from . 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. 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. Now . At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. He was 30-years-old at the time of his death. Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with. He was one of the wealthiest people in the crypto world, and his company was at its pinnacle. 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. Robertson has denied any knowledge of her husband's wrongdoing - and in 2019 returned $9million to the company to repay users. November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. 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. But pour in it did. [9][10], The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were reportedly investigating the company. Gerald Cotten (born 11 May 1988)[14] lived in Belleville, Ontario before attending the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. [42] Another three empty wallets were believed to possibly be owned by Quadriga. started to be convinced that he was dead, after all. Either this is a 1 in 100 million coincidence or he is still alive. 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. I ended up losing my life savings I lost $400,000, Tong Zou, a tech worker quoted in the film, says. Retrieved 18 January 2022. Companies have backups, safeguards to protect against this kind of thing. Re-thinking indemnification for smart contract risks", "Bitcoin investors face long delays cashing out, criticize two B.C. The OSC tugged on the same thread, but neither could get hold of him. The shocking story has been recounted in a new Netflix documentary, Trust No One: The Hunt For The Crypto King. **Warning Spoilers ahead for Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King**. 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. Netflix's 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. Given the intrigue, some went so far as to question whether Mr Cotten had really died and demanded his body be exhumed. His death certificate was issued by the Indian authorities and contains an incorrect spelling of his name. Jilted investors in a defunct cryptocurrency company want to confirm the death of the business's founder by exhuming his remains. 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. CRYPTO scams are popping up all over the internet. [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. 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. After his death in December, his colleagues said that about $137 million in cryptocurrency belonging to about 115,000 customers was held offline in "cold storage" and inaccessible. 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,. He graduated from York with a bachelor of business administration in 2010. He graduated from York in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. 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. [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. Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. Subsequent investigations found that Michael Patryn, one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. He was able to keep the venture, called S&S Investments, going for three months, before it folded and investors money was gone. Was the CEOknown for his luxurious lifestyle, which included jets, supercars and vacationsmurdered by a mob debt collector or a jealous lover? Gerald Cotten. 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. Photo by Gaetano Cessati on Unsplash. pic.twitter.com/rGymJ5f9Or. Where was the rest of the money? [21], Throughout 2018, as Bitcoin prices crashed, customers of the exchange reported delays when attempting to withdraw dollars. "So far, nothing's been found. Check out: Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. NOW WATCH: Netflix is headed for a huge profit milestone in 2018, Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 4 to release Fall 2023, confirms new trailer, {{#media.media_details}} {{#media.focal_point}}. 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. 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.. 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. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. But Cotten was a bad trader: losing money hand over fist, he gambled away about $150 million of customer funds. At the time, he was the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a company that performed cryptocurrency exchanges. Gerald died while on a honeymoon with his wife Je (India is notorious for forging fake death certificates by paying people off). 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. I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. Cops believe that Quadriga CX was actually an wide-ranging Ponzi scheme - and Cotten would use fake accounts under the name "Chris Markay" to "buy" his customers Bitcoin using fake cash. Still, questions about the missing money only mounted when two. He hopes the Netflix doc will get authorities to "move their asses and do something about it" but also to raise awareness "so it doesn't happen to other people". The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. The two first met in November 2014 and had been together for some time before tying the knot in October 2018. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even real? Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. 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 that case, $851 million entrusted to Crypto Capital had been "lost, stolen or absconded with", according to the suit. There's only two people who really know what happened in India. Gerald Cotten was the talk of the cryptocurrency world in Canada after he introduced QuadrigaCX, a place where investors could buy and sell cryptocurrency. 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. And not even. Both Canadas tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company. 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. 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. I took out three loans from the bank and put it all into crypto. 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 will was signed off just two weeks before he and wife Jennifer Robertson travelled to India on their honeymoon. And why did the Indian hospital that treated Cotten misspell his name on his death certificate? Some also believe that Gerald isnt even dead at all but rather hiding away with the hundreds of millions of dollars he controlled. Here's my take on Gerald Cotten and his suspicious death. 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. ET. The only catch: only Gerry knew the passwords to the companys crypto-vaults. [15] He learned about Bitcoin in Toronto and travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he founded Quadriga in November 2013 with Michael Patryn. 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. I really prayed it wasn't a scam. 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. 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." 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. Everyone knows the story about the now-defunct QuadrigaCX . [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. 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. The sudden death of Gerald Cotten in December 2018 plunged the world of cryptocurrency into chaos. A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. 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. [3][4][5], Quadriga likely never invested the funds entrusted to it, according to Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency tracking firm. The circumstances are dodgy that they chose to honeymoon to India and he suddenly dies from complications of Crohn's disease. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King is now streaming on Netflix. [54], A 2021 8-episode podcast entitled Exit Scam followed the buildup of Quadriga, and investigated whether Gerald Cotten had faked his own death. The doctor, reported the Globe, initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. 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. 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. Cryptocurrency investors locked out of $190m after exchange founder dies, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. lets break it all down. By Robin Hill-Gray. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. 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. Was a recently-active Skype account proof he was still alive? However, it was eventually discovered that Gerald had transferred all of his belongings to his wife before his death. Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness (Holt). But Bitcoin crashed at the end of 2018, and Cottens flashy lifestyle needed cash to sustain itself. "What Quadriga really did with the money that customers gave it to buy Bitcoin remains a mystery," according to Chainalysis.