Gerald Cotten was the talk of the cryptocurrency world in Canada after he introduced QuadrigaCX, a place where investors could buy and sell cryptocurrency. April 2, 2022 Netflix Nobody was expecting Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian Bitcoin exchange QuadrigaCX, to die at 30. [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. A Canadian bank froze another $21 million of funds. She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. Cotten encrypted and stored about $190 million worth of his customers' Bitcoin caches and held sole responsibility for the passwords needed to access those funds. It was one of the only games in town [for crypto enthusiasts], Sheona McDonald, who directed the film, told The New York Post. And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. They also found a substantial amount of money was used to fund a lavish lifestyle for the couple, including the use of private jets and luxury vehicles. 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. On the 9th, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest. Citing decomposition concerns, lawyers requested the exhumation be completed no later than spring 2020. [50], Quadriga's lawyer, the firm Stewart McKelvey, withdrew from the case due to a potential conflict of interest. [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. No longer a likable nerd, investors thought that Gerald, now sceptre, had been operating scams since he was 15. 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 was 30-years-old at the time of his death. 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. Then in January, 2019, Cottens wife Jennifer Robertson announced that he had died a month earlier. Image Credit: CTV Your Morning/YouTube. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider name was not the same as Robertsons ex-husband, some angry investors lobbed death threats at Jennifer, convinced that she had murdered Cotten, too. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. 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. And for some, things still looked suspicious. Quadriga started by doing only local trades. Even today, some investors remain unconvinced that Cotten really is dead. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? ", "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? Reported by Fansided, Globe and Mail journalist Nathan Vanderklippe spoke to Dr. Sharma, who dealt with Cotten when he came into the hospital. 4 people named Gerald Betzen found in California, Texas and Massachusetts. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. 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. When Taylor Monahan, founder of MyCrypto, examined the exchanges cold wallets, she couldnt find the lost crypto. 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. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Quadriga's accounts are estimated to have held 190million ($250million). 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. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out. The estate includes an airplane, a sailboat, a 2017 Lexus, and real estate in Nova Scotia and Kelowna, British Columbia. Gerald Cotten is allegedly meant to have died from Crohn's disease after the exchange crashed. 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. 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. And why did the Indian hospital that treated Cotten misspell his name on his death certificate? This was more of a gamblers high than a rich guys high as he pursued more and more of other peoples money, the stakes went up. [54], A 2021 8-episode podcast entitled Exit Scam followed the buildup of Quadriga, and investigated whether Gerald Cotten had faked his own death. Was he avoiding something or someone? 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. Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. So his spiral down into a life of crime was either pure greed or him seeking the thrill. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten died in 2018, taking password to access funds with him Credit: Netflix. (India is notorious for forging fake death certificates by paying people off). [21], Throughout 2018, as Bitcoin prices crashed, customers of the exchange reported delays when attempting to withdraw dollars. 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. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. [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. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even. 5 In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. Uncertainty about the missing funds has fueled speculation that Cotten may still be alive. At the time, he was the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a company that performed cryptocurrency exchanges. [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. She had accompanied him to a hospital in Jaipur the previous day and he was diagnosed with septic shock, perforation, peritonitis, and intestinal obstruction. 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. 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. 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". Where was the rest of the money? [52], The CBC released a 6-episode podcast about Quadriga and the death of its founder called A Death in Cryptoland. The podcast was hosted by Takara Small. But the money, of course, was still missing. Its the swindler story you havent heard of until now. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). 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. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . 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. There's only two people who really know what happened in India. Lawyers representing investors in what BBC. November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. Dying from Crohn's disease when only 1.6% of sufferers from this disease die of it and to happen to die from . Gerald Cotten. 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. 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. 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.. Gerald Cotten had an estimated net worth of $80 million at the time of his death. 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. The Crypto King, aka Gerald "Gerry" Cotten, died in 2018, but his mysterious death is still a subject of controversy today. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. The only catch: only Gerry knew the passwords to the companys crypto-vaults. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. [33] Aaron Matthews served as Director of Operations. 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. 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. 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. Neither Costodian or Quadriga could access the funds. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. 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. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. Mar. ", 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. The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. [1], The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. Did Cotten fake his own death, investors began to ask, absconding to lands anew under a new name and a surgically rejigged face? - October, November, December - during all that time," he said. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. He appointed Peter Wedlake of Grant Thornton to be chief restructuring officer. I took out three loans from the bank and put it all into crypto. We explain who Gerald Cotten is, the subject of this documentary, and reveal where he is now, including the mystery surrounding his downfall. But when the banks, the law, and the. CIBC stated that they could not determine the ownership of the money and could not contact Cotten or Quadriga. [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. But pour in it did. 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. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. Fourteen trading accounts that were also examined were used to trade on other exchanges. Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars. 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. [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. There was no autopsy on the body, for instance, and Cotten had signed his will two weeks after he diedleaving his riches to Jennifer. Exit Scam host Aaron Lammer told CoinDesk: "My read was that, on some level, Gerry was addicted to scamming, "Addicted to stealing peoples money. Quadriga CX was left owning its 76,000 investors around $215million (CAD). The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. Image Source: Social Media. Did he Die? 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. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. Was the CEOknown for his luxurious lifestyle, which included jets, supercars and vacationsmurdered by a mob debt collector or a jealous lover? Netflix has seen a boom with its true-crime docuseries, from 'Tiger King' to 'Making a Murderer.' "It just makes me more depressed about it," Zou told Sky News. There's a small chance that someone was investigating his old accounts and that they accessed his BlackHat but it's very unlikely. Things began to sour, however, in 2018, when the price of Bitcoin collapsed. 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. A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. Angry and suspicious investors congregated on Reddit and Telegram to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Gerald Cotten. Mom 'stabs 3 of her kids to death and wounds 2 others in unsupervised visit', Daughter of murdered couple linked to Delphi case reveals paranoia, Serena Williams stepmom's debts continue to spiral amid crumbling home battle, Alex Murdaugh looks unrecognizable in new mugshot hours after sentencing, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP. The OSC. 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. 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. Forensic accountants discovered that Gerry was trading against fake users, crediting their account with fake currencies and pocketing the cash, using the proceeds to play the crypto market. They surfed his social media accounts at first, then traced Cottens digital footprints even more closely for clues. ^ "Quadriga CEO's widow speaks out over his death and the missing crypto millions". One of the Globe reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. Netflixs documentary definitely seems to be in the corner that Cotten did die, despite the mystery surrounding his death. I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. It has led the pack of other streaming giants, producing the most projects in the true-crime genre as of 2020. 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. Cotten was young, energetic, passionate about cryptocurrency so when. The two first met in November 2014 and had been together for some time before tying the knot in October 2018. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. [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. 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. For instance, had Cottens death certificate, which spelled his name as Cottan, been faked? He and his wife, Jennifer Robertson, jetted all over the world on private planes, visiting chic locales in Paris, Hawaii, and Morocco. Gerald Cotten (born 11 May 1988)[14] lived in Belleville, Ontario before attending the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. 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. "I kept asking them: Where's my money? 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.