Some 76,000 investors like Zou collectively lost out. He was one of the wealthiest people in the crypto world, and his company was at its pinnacle. 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. [49], On 5 March 2019, Justice Wood extended Quadriga's court protection to 23 April. 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. He died just nine days into his honeymoon due to an acute stomach ache. Was he avoiding something or someone? Following Quadrigas implosion in 2019, it was investigated by the Ontario Securities Commission, which concluded that, "what happened at Quadriga was an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology. [47], Gerald Cotten's widow has maintained that she knew nothing about her husband's activities and agreed to forfeit $12 million in assets. [24][25][26], According to court filings, Quadriga also used WB21 as a payment processor. Gerald Cotten was the founder of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Quadriga CX. Gerald Cotten is allegedly meant to have died from Crohns disease after the exchange crashed. [52], The CBC released a 6-episode podcast about Quadriga and the death of its founder called A Death in Cryptoland. 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. 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. An official investigation concluded that Quadriga was"an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology". But when co-founder Cotten died during a honeymoon in India, the money was seemingly lost forever. The thing is, a CEOs death shouldnt lock customers out of their money. But Bitcoin crashed at the end of 2018, and Cottens flashy lifestyle needed cash to sustain itself. A C$100,000 trust fund was made to provide lifelong care for Cotten's two chihuahuas in case of Robertson's death. "I could have invested it in real estate. It was alleged that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different nameOmar Dhanani. 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. Something was afoot. Did he Die? And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [21], Throughout 2018, as Bitcoin prices crashed, customers of the exchange reported delays when attempting to withdraw dollars. **Warning Spoilers ahead for Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King**. Then Gerald Cotten suddenly died, in December of 2018, from complications with Crohn's disease. And why did the Indian hospital that treated Cotten misspell his name on his death certificate? Here's a link to the BlackHat forum. 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.. Cotten In 2013 was looking for a programmer to help him create a bitcoin marketplace using the account name Murdoch1337 on a BlackHat Forum and this account was last seen active in August 2019 at this point he should have been "dead" for a long time. Some evidence suggested that Jennifer, if real, was acting strangely. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. I'm 99% sure he is still alive living nicely. Netflix has tried to get to the bottom of things in its, Trust No One depicts Cotten as a nerdy, happy-go-lucky, and charming CEO, who was knee-deep in, reporter that the banks, which didnt trust crypto exchanges, had, The investors found more questions than answers. The streaming service announced the feature alongside a slate of upcoming true-crime projects last week. [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.
Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix The podcast was reported by Aaron Lammer and Lane Brown.[55]. 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 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. Their online exchange launched after the first month. Investors tried to pull their money from Quadriga, but sometimes faced month-long delays. Dying from Crohn's disease when only 1.6% of sufferers from this disease die of it and to happen to die from .
Widow of Quadriga crypto founder Gerald Cotten says she had no idea Investigations into the firm revealed that Mr Cotten made numerous fake accounts on Quadriga to influence trades on the platform, at one time being involved personally in 87 per cent of transactions.
Is Gerald Cotten really dead? : r/QuadrigaCX - reddit About C$1.2 billion worth of bitcoin was exchanged on Quadriga. The OSC found that after 2016, QuadrigaCX stopped producing consistent data about its holdings, and that large volumes of cryptocurrencies were being sent to foreign crypto exchanges. Citing decomposition concerns, lawyers requested the exhumation be completed no later than spring 2020. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten.
Mystery of rogue Bitcoin trader who 'died' taking with him password to Furious investors continue to fight a legal battle to try and have Cotten's body exhumed as they believe his death was a cut and run scam. Companies have backups, safeguards to protect against this kind of thing. [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. "It did become an obsession..
'The Crypto King': Who is Gerald Cotten and Where is Gerry Now? - Newsweek 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. So what exactly happened to Cotten, and is he still alive somewhere sitting on a mountain of stolen crypto? A new Netflix true-crime documentary is tackling a bizarre story from the world of cryptocurrency. Overcast with rain showers at times. 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". That same month, Quadriga filed for creditor protection, and scores of angry investors began furiously questioning where their money went, even though only Mr Cotten knew the keys to the companys crypto vault and never set up a dead mans trigger to send them elsewhere in case he was incapacitated. He first encountered Bitcoin in Vancouver, British .
Mystery of rogue Bitcoin trader who 'died' taking with - The Sun "It just makes me more depressed about it," Zou told Sky News. lets break it all down.
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. 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. So, Patryn: shit-stirrer, criminal mastermind or another one beguiled by Cotten? Indeed, QuadrigaCX launched just three months after sceptre put out a call to build a crypto exchange. Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. One of the. Investors who believed that Cotten had faked his own death and ran away with the money had made one huge assumption: that Cotten had money to steal. Then in January, 2019, Cottens wife Jennifer Robertson announced that he had died a month earlier. pic.twitter.com/rGymJ5f9Or. , 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. 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. Thats when the. 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. 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. [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. [30], According to Jennifer Robertson, Cotten's widow, he died on 9 December 2018 while travelling in India. Though some dont believe Mr Cotten is really gone, the money from Quadriga is. 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. He was 30-years-old. Some speculate that Cotten, who suffered with Crohn's disease, might actually be alive. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. The Crypto King, aka Gerald "Gerry" Cotten, died in 2018, but his mysterious death is still a subject of controversy today. 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. When Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly last year, hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds vanished into the crypto ether. The teen, a bright computer enthusiast from Belleville, Ontario, ran the operation on an online forum called TalkGold . Things began to sour, however, in 2018, when the price of Bitcoin collapsed. "[18], The company tried to raise money and list on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) working with Patryn. 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. Here Is Why People Think Gerald Cotten Is Still Alive. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). [7][8] On 8 April 2019 the firm entered bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act as the possibility of a successful reorganization appeared to be remote. Then, out of the blue, one Mike Patryn joined the Telegram group that investors were using to discuss conspiracies. It sucks.". Everyone knows the story about the now-defunct QuadrigaCX . Gerald and Jennifer kept most of their relationship away from the public. Then, the crypto millionaire suddenly died in India from complications from Crohn's disease about three years ago. Mar. Some also believe that Gerald isnt even dead at all but rather hiding away with the hundreds of millions of dollars he controlled. 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." [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.
^ "Quadriga CEO's widow speaks out over his death and the missing crypto millions". 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. 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.
Before Quadriga: How shady ventures in Gerald Cotten's youth led to the 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. The media dragged Gerald Cotten's wife, Jennifer Robertson, into the spotlight after his mysterious death. But when the banks, the law, and the. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. So the Globe goes to Cottens hospital in India to put the whole fake death thing to bed. When Quadriga CEO Gerald Cotten died suddenly in 2018, the passcodes for his cryptocurrency exchange died with him. Customers have since struggled to regain access to their money, citing withdrawl issues and lack of communication from the company. 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. [19] Other than a few contractors, it had no employees, offices or bank accounts thereafter. [17][20], In 2017, Bitcoin experienced a speculative frenzy rising in price from about US$1,000 to almost US$20,000. His death sparked online debates and string theories on Reddit and. 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. 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? Jilted investors in a defunct cryptocurrency company want to confirm the death of the business's founder by exhuming his remains. 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. 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. The user said that he left the company in 2016, and that the company was legitimate at the time. It just wasnt there. [7] Meanwhile, in order to manage the finances of the company during the process, a third-party monitor, Ernst & Young, was appointed. 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. [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. 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. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even real? 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. 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. 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,. 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. 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. The OSC tugged on the same thread, but neither could get hold of him. 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. Then you get rid of the fees. Gerald Cotten was the talk of the cryptocurrency world in Canada after he introduced QuadrigaCX, a place where investors could buy and sell cryptocurrency. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. that after 2016, QuadrigaCX stopped producing consistent data about its holdings, and that large volumes of cryptocurrencies were being sent to foreign crypto exchanges. 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. #GeraldCottenReallyDead #GeraldCottenStillAliveGerald Cotten Really Dead ? , one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. Jennifer, scared for her safety, entered a safe house. Did Cotten fake his own death, investors began to ask, absconding to lands anew under a new name and a surgically rejigged face? "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King". Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. [28], Quadriga used an unusual teller-window system for customers to withdraw their money. 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.. He graduated from York with a bachelor of business administration in 2010. Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness (Holt). In November 2018 the case was decided with the accounts going to the court to decide the ownership individually. [33], Cotten's will was signed 27 November 2018, twelve days before he allegedly died. I ended up losing my life savings I lost $400,000, Tong Zou, a tech worker quoted in the film, says. I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. CIBC stated that they could not determine the ownership of the money and could not contact Cotten or Quadriga. [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. 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. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Check out: Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. [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. I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. 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. There were other problems around that time. "Once I deposited it, it was basically gone.". The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. 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.
What really happened to Gerald Cotten, Netflix's Crypto King? "So far, nothing's been found. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . Sign up for notifications from Insider! 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. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. 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. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. The podcast was hosted by Takara Small. There was no way of getting my money back. 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. 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. 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. reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. The investors found more questions than answers. 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. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. Photo by Gaetano Cessati on Unsplash.
The only catch: only Gerry knew the passwords to the companys crypto-vaults. at the time Canadas largest cryptocurrency exchange, Gerald Cotten, 30, died in questionable circumstances, Canadian company founder took crucial password to the grave.
Gerald Betzen (4 matches): Phone Number, Email, Address - Spokeo 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. She says she never received the passwords. 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. Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. - Watch Full Details ! Subsequent investigations found that Michael Patryn, one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. Finally, the OSC discovered something that cracked the case wide open. Uncertainty about the missing funds has fueled speculation that Cotten may still be alive. Its pretty much money by people for people.. Both Canadas tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company. [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. 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.
Bitcoin fraudster's widow breaks silence about the missing crypto 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. 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. It has led the pack of other streaming giants, producing the most projects in the true-crime genre as of 2020. Reported by Fansided, Globe and Mail journalist Nathan Vanderklippe spoke to Dr. Sharma, who dealt with Cotten when he came into the hospital. Soon enough, QuadrigaCXs customers struggled to withdraw money from the exchange. [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. I took out three loans from the bank and put it all into 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.