But pour in it did. 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,. But when co-founder Cotten died during a honeymoon in India, the money was seemingly lost forever. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. 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." Still, questions about the missing money only mounted when two. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out. A sneak preview of the Netflix doc contains images that suggest the documentary will show the investors dive deeper into these conspiracies. A big chunk of it was given to him by his parents. 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. 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. (India is notorious for forging fake death certificates by paying people off). pic.twitter.com/rGymJ5f9Or. Ernst & Young was able to recover $24m in cash and $9m in assets held by Robertson. [11] Lawyers for the customers of the exchange have asked that Cotten's body be exhumed.[12]. "What Quadriga really did with the money that customers gave it to buy Bitcoin remains a mystery," according to Chainalysis. 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. The OSC. [17] In June 2017, Quadriga announced that they had lost ethereum worth US$14 million due to a smart contract error. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. In December 2018, Cotten died during his honeymoon with his wife, Jennifer Robertson, in Jaipur, India. 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. The 33-year-old has attempted to get his money back in a lawsuit, but hasn't had any luck as yet. The couple were on their honeymoon in India, where Jennifer had dreams of opening an orphanage. I ended up losing my life savings I lost $400,000, Tong Zou, a tech worker quoted in the film, says. Official investigations into the matter have yet to produce any definitive answers. We explain how to spot them. 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. [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. 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. 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. 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. Either the funds were never received or quickly went missing. The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. When Taylor Monahan, founder of MyCrypto, examined the exchanges cold wallets, she couldnt find the lost crypto. Was a recently-active Skype account proof he was still alive? 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. The young entrepreneur seemed to be at the height of his success, traveling around the world with his wife, Jennifer, and leading a jet-setting lifestyle. He graduated from York in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. [33], Cotten's will was signed 27 November 2018, twelve days before he allegedly died. Cotten told a Globe and Mail reporter that the banks, which didnt trust crypto exchanges, had frozen the exchanges bank accounts. #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/ Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops delivered daily to your inbox. It was one of the only games in town [for crypto enthusiasts], Sheona McDonald, who directed the film, told The New York Post. [17][20], In 2017, Bitcoin experienced a speculative frenzy rising in price from about US$1,000 to almost US$20,000. Soon enough, QuadrigaCXs customers struggled to withdraw money from the exchange. Gerald died while on a honeymoon with his wife Je Premieres in 2022 pic.twitter.com/rP9iFJHkWm. Given the intrigue, some went so far as to question whether Mr Cotten had really died and demanded his body be exhumed. - Watch Full Details ! Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten died in 2018, taking password to access funds with him Credit: Netflix. The only catch: only Gerry knew the passwords to the companys crypto-vaults. 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. Dhanani also had pleaded guilty to burglary and grand theft charges and had been deported to Canada. 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. So what exactly happened to Cotten, and is he still alive somewhere sitting on a mountain of stolen crypto? I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. 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. Fifteen years later, Mr Cotten, known as Gerry, would be accused of swindling people online of a much bigger prize. Gerald Cotten was the founder of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Quadriga CX. So far, only about $46 million has been recovered. 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. Jilted investors of Cotton's crypto firm QuadrigaCX have demanded his corpse be exhumed and tests run to confirm its his body. I took out three loans from the bank and put it all into crypto. as well as other partner offers and accept our. 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. [7][8], Quadriga co-founder Michael Patryn was identified by The Globe and Mail as Omar Dhanani, who was convicted on identity theft charges in the U.S. and served 18 months in Federal prison. The crypto entrepreneur bought increasingly lavish purchases: a $600,000 yacht, a high-end Lexus, 17 homes in Canada, a plane. ", 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. [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. Cotten was young, energetic, passionate about cryptocurrency so when. 5 I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. And, wildly, was Jennifer, his wife, even. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere, she said in court filings. The dude literally said that comment as a complete joke, and I even . Sign up for notifications from Insider! About C$1.2 billion worth of bitcoin was exchanged on Quadriga. started to be convinced that he was dead, after all. His death left investors locked out of their money and left Jennifer Robertson, Gerry's wife . 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. Finally, the OSC discovered something that cracked the case wide open. His death certificate was issued by the Indian authorities and contains an incorrect spelling of his name. reporters had a hunch that this was Gerry Cotten, and traced the account to another online den of thieves, BlackHatWorld. 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. 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. The doctor, reported the Globe, initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. A new Netflix true-crime documentary is tackling a bizarre story from the world of cryptocurrency. The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. One source in the doco goes as far as to claim Cotton may have used a substance known as "Haitian zombie powder" to fake his death. 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,. But Cotten was a bad trader: losing money hand over fist, he gambled away about $150 million of customer funds. 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. Either this is a 1 in 100 million coincidence or he is still alive. Customers have since struggled to regain access to their money, citing withdrawl issues and lack of communication from the company. 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. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. His body was repatriated to Canada and a funeral was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. 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. Gerald Cotten was 15 when he ran his first documented get-rich-quick scheme. 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? I really prayed it wasn't a scam. [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. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King is now streaming on Netflix. Gerald Cotten. TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING, a DONT F*CK WITH CATS-style investigative thriller, is now streaming on Netflix. There was no way of getting my money back. Quadriga started by doing only local trades. 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. His body was embalmed and sent back to Canada for a closed-casket funeral. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. Some speculate that Cotten, who suffered with Crohn's disease, might actually be alive. The podcast was hosted by Takara Small. It apparently had no formal accounting system. Things began to sour, however, in 2018, when the price of Bitcoin collapsed. 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. Their online exchange launched after the first month. 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. [3][4][5], Quadriga likely never invested the funds entrusted to it, according to Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency tracking firm. goes to Cottens hospital in India to put the whole fake death thing to bed. 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. 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. 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. A C$100,000 trust fund was made to provide lifelong care for Cotten's two chihuahuas in case of Robertson's death. Investors tried to pull their money from Quadriga, but sometimes faced month-long delays. [49], On 5 March 2019, Justice Wood extended Quadriga's court protection to 23 April. 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. 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. Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars. 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. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. [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. [1], The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. I didnt know that Gerry was married, he says. He and his wife, Jennifer Robertson, jetted all over the world on private planes, visiting chic locales in Paris, Hawaii, and Morocco. [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. He was 30-years-old at the time of his death. Like the end of a classic Ponzi, the OSC said that due to Cottens bad trades, QuadrigaCX couldnt afford to credit customers who withdrew funds. March 30, 2022. It was alleged that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different nameOmar Dhanani. 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. 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. 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. And not even. Everyone knows the story about the now-defunct QuadrigaCX . The estate includes an airplane, a sailboat, a 2017 Lexus, and real estate in Nova Scotia and Kelowna, British Columbia. Photo by Gaetano Cessati on Unsplash. There's a small chance that someone was investigating his old accounts and that they accessed his BlackHat but it's very unlikely. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. An official investigation concluded that Quadriga was"an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology". Lawyers representing investors in what BBC. But months later, customers still couldnt take their money out. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. April 2, 2022 Netflix Nobody was expecting Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian Bitcoin exchange QuadrigaCX, to die at 30. Gerald Cotten had an estimated net worth of $80 million at the time of his death. [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. [45], In June 2020, the Ontario Securities Commission officially concluded that Quadriga was indeed a fraud and a Ponzi scheme. We pay for your stories! [54], A 2021 8-episode podcast entitled Exit Scam followed the buildup of Quadriga, and investigated whether Gerald Cotten had faked his own death. [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. ET. 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. 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. The investors found more questions than answers. Even after Cotten's death news, some people still believe that he is alive, and one of the main reasons is because of his mysterious death. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King. (Neither men were charged in connection with Liberty Reserve). At the time, he was the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a company that performed cryptocurrency exchanges. 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. The OSC tugged on the same thread, but neither could get hold of him. name was not the same as Robertsons ex-husband, some angry investors lobbed death threats at Jennifer, convinced that she had murdered Cotten, too. Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. Here's my take on Gerald Cotten and his suspicious death. Trust No One depicts Cotten as a nerdy, happy-go-lucky, and charming CEO, who was knee-deep in Bitcoin and a fierce advocate of the technology. Thats when the. [42] Another three empty wallets were believed to possibly be owned by Quadriga. Netflix Special on Bitcoin Fraudster Gerald Cotten, His Wife, and QuadrigaCX. The circumstances sparked speculation from some in the crypto community that the CEO faked his death and stole his clients' money. 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. Then Gerald Cotten suddenly died, in December of 2018, from complications with Crohn's disease. Overcast with rain showers at times. 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'm 99% sure he is still alive living nicely. 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.. California (2) Massachusetts (1) Texas (2) Refine Your Search Results. Gerald died while on a honeymoon with his wife Jennifer in India, Cotten has been recast since his death as a thrill-seeking scammer, Michael Patryn - real name Omar Dhanani - had previously been convicted of identity fraud, Bitcoin miner electrocuted to death by his computer after forcing it to churn out endless amounts of crypto. 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. It certainly started to look like fraud, said one anonymous investor in the doc. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. [21], Throughout 2018, as Bitcoin prices crashed, customers of the exchange reported delays when attempting to withdraw dollars. Netflix announced an upcoming documentary about the Quadriga Bitcoin saga and the death of CEO Gerald Cotten. And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. Mar. , initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. 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 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. 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. Criminal probes continue by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI as leading digital investing publication Coindesk branded his death as the "crypto's biggest mystery". Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. But when the banks, the law, and the. "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. "You appear dead for a few days, until you get the cure," the source said. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. It essentially removes the need for a central authority. You get rid of a lot of the regulations, he said on a podcast in 2014. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? 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. 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. 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, Jennifer Robertson, tells her side of the story.#Quadriga #GeraldCotten #BitcoinWatch The National live on YouTube Sunday-Friday at 9 p.m. ETSubscribe to The National: https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCTheNational?sub_confirmation=1Connect with The National online:Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thenationalTwitter | https://twitter.com/CBCTheNationalInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/cbcthenationalMore from CBC News | https://www.cbc.ca/newsThe National is CBC's flagship nightly news program, featuring the day's top stories with in-depth and original journalism, with hosts Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang in Toronto, Ian Hanomansing in Vancouver and the CBC's chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton in Ottawa. It was a perfect match, sparked up on Tinder, she said in the documentary. But even the forensic accountants only managed to trace $46 million of the total $215 million customers had deposited onto the exchange. Gerald Cotten, 30, held the virtual keys to a whopping $137 . Indeed, QuadrigaCX launched just three months after sceptre put out a call to build a crypto exchange. Angry and suspicious investors congregated on Reddit and Telegram to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team?
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