Bitcoin Forum

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/04/quadrigacx-canada-cryptocurrency-exchange-locked-gerald-cotten

Sadly the founder of the largest crypto-exchange in Canada (Gerald Cotten) died in December 2018 while visiting India. He was only 30 years old and according to the company website was visiting India because he was opening an orphanage there but died from complications with Crohns disease.

It is reported all the company business is done from one laptop and his widow does not have the password.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has frozen $28m of assets held by QuadrigaCX but the total losses being faced are at todays rate around $190 million because nobody has access to the laptop password. Even if the laptop was unlocked there is no way of knowing yet if the private keys and passwords for the crypto are stored on it or not.

On a side note: Death certificate in India costs money, not the death.

Does someone know where his body is?

I think it's only a matter of years at most to see him get arrested. I don't believe anything of what these con artists are trying to pull off here. It's so easy to live unnoticed in certain countries, especially with false documents.

With that amount of money as 'reward', I'm sure that there is enough incentive and will to stay under the radar for a long period of time. It's a well executed plan with enough time put into thinking through every possible scenario.

It wouldn't even surprise me if he ends up sending funds back home one way or another. Eventually he'll make a mistake and the authorities will whoop his bum....

Exactly! I've got a similar feeling.

However, I'd not be so sure about him making any mistake and getting noticed by the authorities:


He's probably going to play everything very cleverly, let's see if it's "clever-enough".

If they have the laptop they can easily remove the password on Windows OS but the big problem is if it has the password or even private keys.

Honestly, 190m is a big amount why don't they hire some IT tech to remove the password so that they can check if there is a note for a list of private keys or password somewhere on the laptop. Or even getting the email that already saved from his laptop I'm sure he never clear his browser cookies and cache.

The only thing comes to my mind if it's true that he really died? If his body came back to Canada? Otherwise it is clear that they have only made this reason to run all the investments.

I'm pretty curious also if he really died in that country. The info is quite questionable though. He's very young and why the sudden death in another country? But, if it's really true, then I feel sorry for his family. But then again, I just hope that he's not doing this for his own benefit, if ever he's still alive.

I am looking online about his body being repatriated to Canada but did not find anything but I do not see a scam here.

I do find it unprofessional and incompetent if a company (especially an exchange) would have just person who has access to funds and wallets even in the event of death but right now I hope his family are coping with the death of their loved one. I also hope somehow funds will be recovered so no investors lose out.

I hate to seem insensitive, but I prefer the Duck test (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_test).  "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck." This has all the markers of a scam.

The owner executed a will two weeks before his death! Then, faced with mounting unfulfilled withdrawal requests on his exchange, he skips off to India with all the private keys and just happens to die? All while leaving zero processes in place to properly run the company or guarantee customer deposits? Only scammers operate that way. There's nothing remotely normal or explainable about that scenario. This isn't negligence. It's malice.

Are you actually saying he is alive and the news of his death is an elaborate hoax?

Actually, it's not just us:

https://i.imgur.com/HZqoj0L.png

No news outlet seems to imply he faked his own death. Not yet.

This sounds similar to the XRP billionaire who sadly passed away last year without leaving his private keys or wallet passwords in a will but the main difference between his situation and this QuadrigaCX situation is that he was a private individual who hit the big time becoming a whale: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4331794.0

In the case of QuadrigaCX, the crypto belonged to investors and was operated by Gerald Cotten on behalf of a company operating QuadrigaCX therefore private keys, wallets and passwords should have been backed up for next of kin or next in line to operate the business.

I am baffled as to why and how an exchange owner/operator especially one with nearly $200 million of customer crypto would not make provisions about what would happen in the event of his death or incapacity to run the business. Imagine if the same thing happened to Coinbase, Binance, Bitmart or OKEx we would all be up in arms about it. Surely those exchanges have all made arrangements for the business to continue seamlessly regardless of when any number of their owners/operators sadly pass.

Something is seriously wrong with no provisions being made but that does not automatically mean the man faked his own death. We need evidence to back up that allegation and right now nothing has been presented.

Will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days.

Not sure what happened but there was a Medium article (which vanished when the author’s account got suspended for some readon) that made me thing this may be just an elaborated exit scam:


Link of the article before it went off: https://medium.com/@zeroresearchproof/quadrigacx-chain-analysis-report-pt-1-bitcoin-wallets-19d3a375d389

I would tend to agree with you about the duck test but all depends on what happens with regards to his body being repatriated.

If there is a body and it is identified as being him then there is probably no scam.

If there is no body then the duck test rules

Okay, that's fair enough. If his body comes back to Canada and is positively identified as him, I'll admit it probably wasn't a scam. If it's truly like the court filings say, it's like somebody getting struck by lightning twice. Not impossible, but really unlikely.

It's a horrible event for all involved parties, but as always, every negative event has a good side to it, and that's Bitcoins being taken out of circulation for ever in case this doesn't turn out to be a scam. It really start to look like people are picking up on how these situations aren't a danger for the market, but a blessing with how these coins aren't likely going to be dumped any time soon, and possibly never will be.

Scammers want an easy entry and exit point, and I think that the operator of this exchange has made sure all the gates are open to run off with people's funds. I'm pretty certain that Coinbase CEO has no direct access to any of the cold wallets they have, and that's how an exchange should be operated. No single individual should have access to these funds.

Going by what you wrote am I right in thinking that you feel the man is alive and faked his death?

Or really is he dead and gave access/keys/wallets access to "somebody" and that "somebody" is staying quiet?

I'm more inclined to assume that the first option has happened considering how shady the situation as a whole is, but can't completely rule out the second option either. It's easy for us to write something on a forum where we only know what we are allowed to know, so it's going to be a matter of time where I would want the authorities to provide some actual insight.

I was wondering, does anyone know what their BTC cold/hot wallet addresses are? I have been searching for any, but didn't come further than a few sherlock holmes keyboard detectives trying to dig into it on reddit, but this isn't helping either. If they are known, we can at least see for ourselves if one of these scammers still have access to these wallets.

His death certificate has been posted online after his wife/widow received death threats.

https://icoranker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG-20190202-105438-300x261.jpg

He suffered from Crohns disease and that was what given as the cause of his untimely death.

Yes there are red flags such as his will being changed/update a couple of weeks before he died and several others but the man knew he was ill but surely hoped to overcome his illness but to be on the safe side he made a Will for the sake his wife and two pet chihuahua that are said to receive $100,000 for them to be taken care of. Somehow he did not make plans in his Will for the customers that deposited $190 million worth of crypto with him

https://cryptonews.com/news/the-quadrigacx-case-just-got-a-whole-lot-more-complicated-3309.htm:

"A Reddit user under the username u/Palhello claims he studied all major wallets that interacted with the exchange’s hot wallet. The user discovered that several wallets have initiated transactions fairly recently after QuadrigCX’s case was publicized. The user claimed that the four addresses evaluated in the research have been controlled by QuadrigaCX in the past, adding: “If these are really cold addresses there should be no outgoing transaction from them if private key is lost. Regardless, the addresses posted are or at least used to be controlled by Quadriga.”

Also this from the same link https://cryptonews.com/news/the-quadrigacx-case-just-got-a-whole-lot-more-complicated-3309.htm:

Interestingly, an increasing number of people is suspicious about the story surrounding Cotten’s alleged passing. One of them is Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, who tweeted, “We have thousands of wallet addresses known to belong to @QuadrigaCoinEx and are investigating the bizarre and, frankly, unbelievable story of the founder's death and lost keys.”

According to local news outlet The Globe and Mail, Cotten was diligent in other areas of his life. He reportedly signed a will on November 27th, less than two weeks before he supposedly died. He appointed Robertson as the executor of his estate and outlined the distribution of his assets, including an airplane, property in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, and two pet chihuahuas named Nitro and Gully, along with USD 100,000 for their care. However, he seems to have forgotten about the private keys to the crypto funds.

Now even Kraken CEO is saying in effect implying the "death and locked wallets" story is hard to believe. A Reddit user (u/Palhello) says addresses associated with and operated by QuadrigaCX have had withdrawals on them AFTER the news of his death broke.

I am still confused about why there as no back up plan to allow other board members access to the funds IF he became incapacitated or unfortunately passed. The plot thickens....

Well looks like we are now on the news
It's the second video that loads not the first summary video, 5 minute video with Keyan.
Third Clip is Bloomberg
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/cryptocurrency-exchange-gets-court-orders-amid-hunt-for-elusive-assets-1.4283265
https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=64268

QuadrigaCX Victims Won’t Get Any Help from Canadian Regulator Over $136 Million in Lost Crypto

https://www.ccn.com/quadrigacx-victims-wont-get-any-help-from-canadian-regulator-over-136-million-in-lost-crypto/

Adding up:

https://www.ccn.com/newsflash-indian-hospital-claims-quadrigacx-ceo-died-under-its-care-will-it-end-suspicion

All of us would really like to see his body to end all of these suspicion.

The fact that Reddit users have exposed wallet addresses that belong to QuadrigaCX have been used AFTER news of the death of its founder and CEO Gerald Cotten means that people have a right to be suspicious.

That does not necessarily mean that Gerald Cotten is alive, it could be a simple as him sadly succumbing to his illness and passing away in India while he was trying to open an orphanage and others have access to wallets belonging to QuadrigaCX.

A body being formally identified along with an autopsy carried out in his native Canada would ideally help solve the problem.

Though it has not been mentioned where the body of the QuadrigaCX founder and CEO Gerald Cotten is, it has to be said that in India the largest religion (Hindu) there cremate dead people so we need to know what happened to the dead (or alleged dead) body of QuadrigaCX founder and CEO Gerald Cotten.

The bankruptcy filing states that Cotten is the only one with access to the cold storage wallets. Presumably, there are other wallets the company can still access. They may be consolidating those funds as we speak. The Reddit sleuthing -- while convincing on a preliminary read -- doesn't seem to conclusively identify any cold storage wallets.


I think bringing him home alive would be much more effective at solving the problem. :D

Let us see what news the coming days will bring

I seriously hope that these victims get some sort of help:

https://www.ccn.com/california-engineer-loses-422000-in-life-savings-after-using-quadrigacx-is-help-coming

One report did say they disposed of the body by way of cremation and spread on ground there. I find this hard to believe because if his family was in North america in either the united states or canada then I would imagine they would want his ashes to be sent back to them so for a proper funeral. Which I highly doubt they would be his real ashes but just burned materials as some funeral homes were even found doing this practice.

Interesting link. I hope things move forward where innocent investors do not lose out.

It is being said this exchange already filed for bankruptcy protection meaning those investors can not sue the company for incompetence with their funds.
So I dont know how they will ever receive any sort of compensation in the future for quadrigacx losing their money.

LOL QuadrigaCX is also linked to Binary Options:

https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/02/12/controversial-crypto-exchange-quadrigacx-linked-in-binary-options-scam/

Talking about incompetence, here's the latest ridiculous update to this story: https://www.ccn.com/quadrigacx-sent-400000-dead-ceo-bitcoin-wallet/amp

Quadriga have just send 103 bitcoins to a cold wallet owned by the "dead" company owner, and now they are irretrievable. Or so the story goes. No doubt they will sit in that wallet until all this is forgotten about, at which point someone (Gerald or his wife) will quietly liquidate them.

I'd be curious if anyone was able to locate the transaction hash for this transfer.

As far as I can tell no Bitcoin address relating to any of this has been made publicly known by anyone actually involved. I know Jesse Powell of Kraken said he knew which addresses he'd dealt with were linked to them but I haven't seen any actually laid out yet.

Coindesk are saying ETH moved just before their final death fart - https://www.coindesk.com/funds-were-moving-from-quadrigacx-right-before-its-collapse

Is there anything beyond Reddit conjecture when it comes to the BTC and LTC?

The plot thickens.

The whole story is just absolutely extraordinary and so difficult to accept as it is being put out there in the media.

But they have disclosed there have been 5 bitcoin addresses which hold the company/clients funds
https://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-analysis-ties-5-bitcoin-addresses-to-quadrigacx-exchange
There are very large sums accumulated in these addresses that are available to the public to view.


Today is the day for those creditors to see what their future holds in this case.
https://www.coindesk.com/the-race-to-represent-quadrigacxs-creditors-may-be-decided-today

That article links to this reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/QuadrigaCX2/comments/aq3r08/a_breakdown_of_qcx_btc_movements_what_we_know_and/), which is well worth a read.

Essentially, they have identified 5 address which are almost certainly part of the Quadriga "cold wallet" under the control of Gerald Cotten, which received direct deposits from the Quadriga hot wallets. A couple of these addresses both sent coins to the same Bitfinex account deposit address in the same transaction back in December 2017.

Why would the owner of Quadriga be sending customers' coins which were deposited to Quadriga directly to Bitfinex? And over a year ago as well. This whole thing gets scammier by the day.

I see no possibility of the investors getting their money back. Sad.

https://blog.zerononcense.com/2019/02/16/report-shows-quadrigacx-cold-wallets-actively-involved-in-significant-criminal-activity-ties-to-silk-road-hacked-funds-identity-theft-and-drug-human-trafficking

I've absolutely no idea who this person is but they seem to reckon Quadriga was flat out crooked and much of the money it handled came straight from illicit sources. It's probably the usual ranting but perhaps someone else might spot something useful.

That was an interesting read but I am still unsure where these accusations or evidence (depends on how you see it) fits in with regards to the death of Gerald Cotten.

Even if it were proven beyond doubt Gerald Cotten was operating a front business which was effectively a criminal outfit and large portions of the $190 million crypto funds were siphoned-off or shifted elsewhere, that still does not prove nor disprove what happened to the dead body (if indeed Gerald Cotten has passed away).

The alleged death certificate issued by a US based registrar has circulated online but we are in the dark about what happened after he passed away.

Did his body get repatriated to Canada? If so who identified him and when/where was he buried?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-how-did-gerald-cotten-die-a-quadriga-mystery-from-india-to-canada/

unpaywalled here - https://outline.com/MS67gd

This article has plenty of fresh info. It seems enough Indian officialdom believes he's a goner but it still leaves a fair few questions. They should get it over and parade him through the streets for people to poke.

Thank you gentlemand, an excellent read.

Well after reading that article there seems be almost unanimous consensus that  Gerald Cotten is indeed sadly deceased.

Exactly what was and still going on with his widow (Jennifer Cotton) is a mystery because of the manner in which she has conducted herself since her husband Gerald Cotten passed away.

I think there is a lot more going on here with regards to Jennifer Cotton. An interview by any newspaper with her would have been good but she remains elusive. She turned up at Court to give a statement but refused to answer questions from the press and media.

Seems that the co-founder |who is still alive! :-\| was using investors of the exchanges funds to use on bitmex.
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/03/07/quadrigacx-co-founder-michael-patryn-allegedly-traded-large-positions-on-bitmex
So he was essentially gambling with customers funds by leveraging on this trading platform? >:(

Quadriga publicly stated in 2016 that Michael Patryn, although their co-founder, had left the company. All the reddit posts linked to in that article were from the last 12 months. I therefore doubt the allegation that he was using Quadriga customers' money to trade. Cotten has almost certainly exit scammed, but I doubt very much he let someone fired from the company continue to access the exchanges' wallets and trade with users' funds right up until the end of last year. I also doubt Michael Patryn is part of the scam, because he would be have to be a complete moron to be posting on reddit about using those funds.

The plot thickens.

There will be much more information leaking in the coming days and weeks.

too little too late.

it'll be interesting from a storytelling perspective but IMO the money is long gone. cotten is probably lying on white sand beaches somewhere sitting on duffel bags full of cash. good luck to all the victims. it smells like another cryptsy situation.

Though it cannot be said for sure that he is dead or alive, so far the evidence from the medical staff and police in India suggests Gerald Cotten did sadly pass away even though I never read any report about where he was buried or where his funeral took place.

Does anybody know if he was allegedly cremated in India or whether his body was repatriated to Canada?

His wife/widow apparently left India within a day or two of Gerald Cotten allegedly passing away. Did she take his dead body with her to Canada to have him buried?

There is a "Statement of Death" (https://imgur.com/a/HSxOofS) from a funeral home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, dated 12th December, which is 3 days after the alleged date of death. As far as I am aware, there is no record of a ceremony being held, and it is not clear whether the body itself was repatriated, or whether he was cremated in India and the ashes were taken back to Canada. A "Statement of Death" is not a "Death Certificate", and says nothing about a medical examination of the body to confirm death - it is generally just used for insurance purposes.

Should we laugh? Or cry? ::)

QuadrigaCX Widow: Founder Mixed Personal Funds with Failed Crypto Exchange

https://www.coindesk.com/stewart-mckelvey-quadriga-law-firm

Yes and that is the problem, it does not satisfy everybody.

The certificate does not explain anything except an acceptance/belief the named person is deceased.

Any update to this story?

https://www.scribd.com/document/401826124/Statement-From-Jennifer-Robertson-March-13-2019-4139-8239-6955-v-2

Stewart McKelvey, the law firm who is representing Jennifer Robertson (Gerald Cotten's widow), was also representing Quadriga in the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) process. This is obviously a massive conflict of interest, and so they have withdrawn from representing Quadriga. There is also a suggestion that this law firm has been advising Jennifer Robertson to move her assets in to a trust to protect them from creditors.

In her statement, she also says that Cotten was using his own money to top up Quadriga following issues with its CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) account, and that she believes he had the "best interests of the business in mind, and cared for his customers".

Apart from feeling sad at the death of anybody (in this case the CEO Gerald Cotten) I have absolutely nothing to positive to say about this farce regarding Quadriga or Jennifer Robertson (the widow of Gerald Cotten).

She apparently has a very chequered past. I am waiting to see what news will be leaked in the next few days.

This is not an open and shut case, the truth is there are far too many people associated with Quadriga that are keeping lots of things quiet for now but eventually the truth will have to come out.

Still no news about burials and body repatriations?

I saw this post the other day and sort of just took it as truth without thinking about it:


Now that I'm searching the internet for confirmation, this is the only thing I can find (https://www.ccn.com/newsflash-indian-hospital-claims-quadrigacx-ceo-died-under-its-care-will-it-end-suspicion):


A document was issued allowing her to bring his body home, but I can't find anything that definitively says she did.

Well this seems to be the latest news:

Judge OKs transfer of QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange case to Toronto court


https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/judge-oks-transfer-of-quadrigacx-cryptocurrency-exchange-case-to-toronto-court/ar-AAH5Qow

Thanks for the update and such move of court is somewhat relevant to reduce up expenses.This case is getting to long to be resolved.I highly doubt that it never will.

I still cannot believe or accept that nobody has the private keys to the wallets. I refuse to believe that Gerald Cotten did not leave access to the wallets to an aide or business partner or spouse or associate or relative.

Things in the Toronto Court might help in getting to the bottom of this conundrum.

Has the issue of the repatriated remains been solved? I searched around a bit and this is the last media discussion of the body (https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/a-crypto-millionaire-loose-ends-a-dead-end-a-consignment-of-teddy-bears-before-gerald-cotten-died/articleshow/68804401.cms) I can find. Unless some additional evidence has surfaced, I'm not convinced that Cotten is dead.

The fact that the exchange's funds were spread around to different third parties -- probably with fraudulent documentation -- tells me that even identifying all the bitcoins involved would be very difficult. The mystical QuadrigaCX cold wallet probably isn't the only piece in this puzzle.

This makes interesting reading, it is about fake death certificates being issued in the same region Cotton allegedly died: https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/02/06/ceo-who-held-150m-in-crypto-died-in-a-region-known-for-having-a-fake-death-mafia/

I cannot find any information online about whether Gerald Cotton was allegedly cremated or buried and in which country the funeral took place.

I am also not convinced about the story of his death. His wife managed to get a death certificate from her home town in Canada but it was not disclosed if that was based on the death certificate she presented to them that the Rajasthan officials gave her or whether they issued their death certificate because they had access to his body and he is buried in Canada after repatriating.

Well here is an interesting update to the ongoing story....

Headline as per The Independent newspaper: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cryptocurrency-quadrigacx-boss-death-fake-theory-exhumed-a9246621.html

"Cryptocurrency users want boss's body exhumed over theories he may have faked his own death"

along with

"Earlier this year, a report by auditor Ernst & Young found significant problems in how the exchange was managed. They said that Mr Cotten had created certain accounts on the Quadriga platform under aliases which may have been used to trade on the exchange.

It was also found that substantial funds were transferred to the founder personally, and to other related parties."

Personally I would have thought it the most obvious thing to do (to exhume the body) for identification purposes and to put to rest the question of is-he-alive-or-not because if Gerald Cotten really is dead then other investigations will follow but if he is alive thus faked his own death it means both he and his wife were in on it since she had the death certificate issued in India.

Something never ever felt right about this whole story. If the body is exhumed and identified as Cotton then it further narrows possibilities about what happened but a post-mortem might help and if the exhumation shows it was not the body of Cotton then why on earth was the dead body of another person brought back to Canada and passed off as his for burial?

Intriguing....

either way, i'm extremely skeptical about the "lost private keys" explanation. cotten appeared to be running quadrigaCX in a very fraudulent manner---for example, storing quadrigaCX funds on other exchanges. (https://twitter.com/jespow/status/1091863628066770944) as jesse powell points out in that thread, it's also just a theme we have seen all too many times in crypto:


assuming that quadrigaCX even had cold storage at all is almost like taking craig wright's claims about the tulip trust at face value. there is nothing i have found that supports the narrative that the cold storage keys died with cotten. it's just something his wife and the other executives are claiming. so if he really is dead, i hope his death doesn't lend credence to their narrative. his death wouldn't prove that a massive fraud was not occurring.

The idea that private keys were in the hands of one individual alone is hard to believe just as Powell pointed out.

If the body is exhumed and it is identified as Cotton then still it does mean the end of the investigation. There will be an autopsy to check for clues how he died and since Mrs Cotton was the only person with him on that holiday and philanthropic trip the finger of suspicion will fall upon her even if the evidence might lack.

The other possibility is that if the body is exhumed and it is identified not to be Gerald Cotton then it opens up scope to widen the investigation. Mrs Cotton is not exactly out of this just yet and the plot could thicken even further.