She says she never received the passwords. A sneak preview of the Netflix doc contains images that suggest the documentary will show the investors dive deeper into these conspiracies. This was my entire savings, built through ten years of work, said one disgruntled customer in the doc. Rather than pay customers via bank wires, they were told to come to a nondescript building in Laval, Quebec to pick up the cash. 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. Some 76,000 investors like Zou collectively lost out. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix 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. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. No one but him can access accounts, he ran a whole market on a laptop by himself with no other employees or partners anymore so only he could access it and he suddenly dies when he would be in massive debt for delayed payments and would likely be convicted for fraud or money laundering. 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. Jennifer, scared for her safety, entered a safe house. 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. 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? A computer issue wiped $14 million of Ethereum off the exchange. And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. Something was afoot. He convinced tons of investors to fork over their money so he could invest it into Crypto. 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. 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. Some speculate that Cotten, who suffered with Crohn's disease, might actually be alive. 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. March 30, 2022. 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". Check out: Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. 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.. 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. seeks to unravel the mystery of Gerald Cotten, the CEO of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, who died in 2018. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Then, out of the blue, one Mike Patryn joined the Telegram group that investors were using to discuss conspiracies. Angry and suspicious investors congregated on Reddit and Telegram to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Gerald Cotten is a bitcoin millionaire from Canada whose death, supposedly from complications relating to Crohn's disease, is now being questioned. The estate includes an airplane, a sailboat, a 2017 Lexus, and real estate in Nova Scotia and Kelowna, British Columbia. So, Patryn: shit-stirrer, criminal mastermind or another one beguiled by Cotten? "At that time, there was nothing I could do. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). 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? 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. Gerald Cotten faked his death? QuadrigaCX Full Story Uncovered. [48], On 5 February 2019, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Cotten was young, energetic, passionate about cryptocurrency so when. 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. I just prayed. Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with stealing millions from Quadrigas customers. One of the Globe reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. Customers have since struggled to regain access to their money, citing withdrawl issues and lack of communication from the company. Their online exchange launched after the first month. We explain who Gerald Cotten is, the subject of this documentary, and reveal where he is now, including the mystery surrounding his downfall. Quadriga had four employees in 2015 with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, but ran out of money by June 2015. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. Then Gerald Cotten suddenly died, in December of 2018, from complications with Crohn's disease. Shortly after, the exchange stopped working entirely. Widow of Quadriga crypto founder Gerald Cotten says she had no idea Gerald Cotten is still alive (proof) : r/QuadrigaCX - Reddit The thing is, a CEOs death shouldnt lock customers out of their money. 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. Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars. 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,. Where is Gerald Cotten now from Netflix's Hunt for the Crypto - HITC The media dragged Gerald Cotten's wife, Jennifer Robertson, into the spotlight after his mysterious death. 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. Is Gerald Cotten really dead? : r/QuadrigaCX - reddit 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. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even. NOW WATCH: Netflix is headed for a huge profit milestone in 2018, Personal Finance Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges. #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/ The OSC tugged on the same thread, but neither could get hold of him. TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING, a DONT F*CK WITH CATS-style investigative thriller, is now streaming on Netflix. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. 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. He launched QuadrigaCX in 2013, and it quickly became one of the largest crypto exchanges. You get rid of a lot of the regulations, he said on a podcast in 2014. There's a small chance that someone was investigating his old accounts and that they accessed his BlackHat but it's very unlikely. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out. The sudden death of Gerald Cotten in December 2018 plunged the world of cryptocurrency into chaos. 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. But the mingling didnt end there: the crypto kingpin also allegedly mixed client money with his own, according to investigators, funding the lavish lifestyle he became known for. [33], Cotten's will was signed 27 November 2018, twelve days before he allegedly died. "You appear dead for a few days, until you get the cure," the source said. Zou resorted to the cryptocurrency scheme to avoid bank charges when moving Vancouver, shifting his money from the US to a Canadian account. 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. Some evidence suggested that Jennifer, if real, was acting strangely. Dhanani also had pleaded guilty to burglary and grand theft charges and had been deported to Canada. Soon enough, QuadrigaCXs customers struggled to withdraw money from the exchange. Then in January, 2019, Cottens wife Jennifer Robertson announced that he had died a month earlier. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. Cotten also took flying lessons as he appeared to be possibly preparing for a life on the run. 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. Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. QuadrigaCX's Crypto Accounts Were Emptied Months Before CEO's A lost password, a sudden death and $180M in missing crypto 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. Bitcoin fraudster's widow breaks silence about the missing crypto (His wife says he is in fact dead and witnessed his funeral). 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,. , one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? 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. ", He added: "We thought we were looking for basically a rich guy who had stolen money, Now either [Cotten is] dead, or if hes alive, hes a gambling addict whos broke.".