as well as other partner offers and accept our. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. [7] Meanwhile, in order to manage the finances of the company during the process, a third-party monitor, Ernst & Young, was appointed. 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. X-rays. , initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. 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. April 2, 2022 Netflix Nobody was expecting Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian Bitcoin exchange QuadrigaCX, to die at 30. [47], Gerald Cotten's widow has maintained that she knew nothing about her husband's activities and agreed to forfeit $12 million in assets. 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 teen, a bright computer enthusiast from Belleville, Ontario, ran the operation on an online forum called TalkGold, and promised his investors inconceivable returns of up to 150 per cent in two days. 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. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. 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. Now Cottens jet-set lifestyle looked suspicious. So the. [9][10], The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were reportedly investigating the company. 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. 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. The OSC. Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with. But pour in it did. The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. There's only two people who really know what happened in India. 5 at the time Canadas largest cryptocurrency exchange, Gerald Cotten, 30, died in questionable circumstances, Canadian company founder took crucial password to the grave. 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. Was Patryn, whom employees described as a macho, terrifying character, calling the shots, not Cotten? Sign up for notifications from Insider! 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. Cotten also took flying lessons as he appeared to be possibly preparing for a life on the run. 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. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. On the 9th, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest. Then, the crypto millionaire suddenly died in India from complications from Crohn's disease about three years ago. Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars worth of his investors' Bitcoin funds. - October, November, December - during all that time," he said. 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. 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. Directed by Luke Sewell, the original Netflix documentary Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King follows a group of cryptocurrency investors hired to investigate the death of exchange founder Gerry Cotten and the alleged $250 million that he stole from them. Some speculate that Cotten, who suffered with Crohn's disease, might actually be alive. 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. 29 2022, Published 3:03 p.m. Died, and He Had the Passwords", "Pre-filing report of the proposed monitor", "Controversial QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange placed in bankruptcy", "Quadriga Should Shift to Bankruptcy Proceedings, Monitor Says", "FBI Probing Bitcoin Exchange Quadriga Over Missing $136 Million, Source Alleges", "Quadriga: Lawyers for users of bankrupt crypto firm seek exhumation of founder", "How Gerald Cotten built Quadriga and created the ensuing crypto storm", "Ponzi Schemes, Private Yachts, and a Missing $250 Million in Crypto: The Strange Tale of Quadriga", "Geek Speak: Gerald Cotton, CEO of Quadriga CX", "Crypto chaos: From Vancouver to Halifax, tracing the mystery of Quadriga's missing millions", "Quadriga's late founder used to store clients' Bitcoin passwords on paper so they wouldn't get lost", "A crypto exchange CEO dies-with the only key to $137 million", "Details emerging about Gerald Cotten, the young founder of QuadrigaCX", "My smart contract just ate $14 millionnow what? Thats when the. Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 4 to release Fall 2023, confirms new trailer, {{#media.media_details}} {{#media.focal_point}}. I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. , 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. I believe this is the reason why Quadriga could be formed because they made a fortune from Scamming before Quadriga. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King. He was 30-years-old at the time of his death. [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. Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. 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. 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. In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. He launched QuadrigaCX in 2013, and it quickly became one of the largest crypto exchanges. November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. 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. 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. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? [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. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. (His wife says he is in fact dead and witnessed his funeral). They surfed his social media accounts at first, then traced Cottens digital footprints even more closely for clues. When Taylor Monahan, founder of MyCrypto, examined the exchanges cold wallets, she couldnt find the lost crypto. Here's my take on Gerald Cotten and his suspicious death. "I couldn't get any sleep. Its pretty much money by people for people.. Mar. Companies have backups, safeguards to protect against this kind of thing. [17] In June 2017, Quadriga announced that they had lost ethereum worth US$14 million due to a smart contract error. At the time, he was the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a company that performed cryptocurrency exchanges. 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. started to be convinced that he was dead, after all. He graduated from York with a bachelor of business administration in 2010. Quadriga had four employees in 2015 with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, but ran out of money by June 2015. "It just makes me more depressed about it," Zou told Sky News. 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. 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. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one 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. "What Quadriga really did with the money that customers gave it to buy Bitcoin remains a mystery," according to Chainalysis. The crypto entrepreneur bought increasingly lavish purchases: a $600,000 yacht, a high-end Lexus, 17 homes in Canada, a plane. Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? 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. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. 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. 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. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. 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. His clients were locked out of about $250 million, and investigators later. 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. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even real? [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. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Gerald Cotten was the founder of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Quadriga CX. Rather than pay customers via bank wires, they were told to come to a nondescript building in Laval, Quebec to pick up the cash. Likewise, the public was not much intrigued about their lives up until . Retrieved 18 January 2022. Then Gerald Cotten suddenly died, in December of 2018, from complications with Crohn's disease. California (2) Massachusetts (1) Texas (2) Refine Your Search Results. The circumstances are dodgy that they chose to honeymoon to India and he suddenly dies from complications of Crohn's disease. I really prayed it wasn't a scam. There was no autopsy on the body, for instance, and Cotten had signed his will two weeks after he diedleaving his riches to Jennifer. [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. His wife Jennifer Robertson said he had promised to create a mechanism that turned thepasswords over to her when he died. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King is now streaming on Netflix. He and his wife, Jennifer Robertson, jetted all over the world on private planes, visiting chic locales in Paris, Hawaii, and Morocco. "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. 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. And meanwhile, Dead Man's Switch director Sheona McDonald said: "There's only two people who really know what happened in India.". The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . Still, questions about the missing money only mounted when two. 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. [21], Throughout 2018, as Bitcoin prices crashed, customers of the exchange reported delays when attempting to withdraw dollars. Gerald Cotten. Quadriga started by doing only local trades. It was alleged that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different nameOmar Dhanani. You transferred them $1,000 and you could see the crypto in your account. [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. Customers have since struggled to regain access to their money, citing withdrawl issues and lack of communication from the company. Some have speculated that Gerald Cotten faked his own death and basically got a knock-off death certificate in India or perhaps he was killed by his business partners but even the death itself is incredibly suspicious. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere, she said in court filings. Quadriga's customers are owed C$260 million in cryptocurrency and cash. His death certificate was issued by the Indian authorities and contains an incorrect spelling of his name. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. 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". Premieres in 2022 pic.twitter.com/rP9iFJHkWm. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even. A bitcoin mining operation in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. #GeraldCottenReallyDead #GeraldCottenStillAliveGerald Cotten Really Dead ? The teen, a bright computer enthusiast from Belleville, Ontario, ran the operation on an online forum called TalkGold . He convinced tons of investors to fork over their money so he could invest it into Crypto. [19], Some Reddit users have suggested that Cotten faked his own death in order to defraud customers through an exit scam, while others believe that Cotten's death exposed a Ponzi scheme. CRYPTO scams are popping up all over the internet. 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. 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. The business was run from Cotten's encrypted laptop from Cotten's home in Fall River, Nova Scotia. Cbc.ca. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. Did Cotten fake his own death, investors began to ask, absconding to lands anew under a new name and a surgically rejigged face? Jilted investors of Cotton's crypto firm QuadrigaCX have demanded his corpse be exhumed and tests run to confirm its his body. But Bitcoin crashed at the end of 2018, and Cottens flashy lifestyle needed cash to sustain itself. 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' will be released sometime in 2022. Thats when the Globe started to be convinced that he was dead, after all. (India is notorious for forging fake death certificates by paying people off). Then in January, 2019, Cottens wife Jennifer Robertson announced that he had died a month earlier. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Investors are still hunting for millions in vanished cryptocurrencies, writes Josh Marcus, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. His body was repatriated to . 4 people named Gerald Betzen found in California, Texas and Massachusetts. Though some dont believe Mr Cotten is really gone, the money from Quadriga is. The user said that he left the company in 2016, and that the company was legitimate at the time. Netflix has seen a boom with its true-crime docuseries, from 'Tiger King' to 'Making a Murderer.' Then you get rid of the fees. So the Globe goes to Cottens hospital in India to put the whole fake death thing to bed. Gerald Cleophas Betzen, 68. 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. 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. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? In other news, Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 4 to release Fall 2023, confirms new trailer, Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King | Official Trailer | Netflix, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vW2BPQ15OSw/hqdefault.jpg. Did he Die? I ended up losing my life savings I lost $400,000, Tong Zou, a tech worker quoted in the film, says. Gerald Cotten died suddenly of Crohn's disease - or did he? "[18], The company tried to raise money and list on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) working with Patryn. A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix | Where Are They Now?Subscribe Here! 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,. #GeraldCotten #QuadrigaCX #Netflix #truecrime #wherearetheynow #gerrycotten #crypto #fraud #docuseries #truestory #biography #whathappenedto ------------------------------------IN THIS VIDEO:Sierra Walker ------------------------------------PRODUCER \u0026 FILMED BY:Chris Stiuso------------------------------------VIDEO EDITED BY:Brianna Raakman: https://www.instagram.com/brianna_raakman/ Customers reported that once they arrived, there was nobody in the office, or that there was no cash to be disbursed. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The laptop computer from which Gerry carried out the companies business is encrypted and I do not know the password or recovery key. The podcast was reported by Aaron Lammer and Lane Brown.[55]. Everyone knows the story about the now-defunct QuadrigaCX . Where was the rest of the money? Fifteen years later, Mr Cotten, known as Gerry, would be accused of swindling people online of a much bigger prize. The Globe and Mail reporters were on the case, and used photos to conclude that they were the same person.

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