QuadrigaCX: $190 million locked after founder died in December 2018

[o_e_l_e_o]

Seems that the co-founder |who is still alive! | was using investors of the exchanges funds to use on bitmex.

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.

[JollyGood]

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?

The plot thickens.

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

[figmentofmyass]

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?

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.

[JollyGood]

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?

[o_e_l_e_o]

-snip-

There is a "Statement of Death" 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.

[Raja_MBZ]

Should we laugh? Or cry?

QuadrigaCX Widow: Founder Mixed Personal Funds with Failed Crypto Exchange

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

“While I had no direct knowledge of how Gerry operated the business, he told me that he had been putting his own money back into QCX to fund user withdrawals in 2018 while the CIBC money remained frozen. I believe Gerry had the best interests of the business in mind, and cared for his customers.”

[JollyGood]

-snip-

There is a "Statement of Death" 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.

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.

[JollyGood]

Any update to this story?

[o_e_l_e_o]

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".

[JollyGood]

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.

[JollyGood]

Still no news about burials and body repatriations?

[squatter]

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:

But like the Kraken CEO said, the chance of Cotten being dead is probably 99%... After all, his body was supposedly brought back from India to Canada by his wife.. You would think he would have been ID'd by either some coroner or family member in the process.

Now that I'm searching the internet for confirmation, this is the only thing I can find:

The next day after being declared dead, police in Jaipur handed Robertson a no objection certificate – a document allowing the collection and transportation of a body – allowing her to fly Cotton’s body to Nova Scotia, Canada.

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

[JollyGood]

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

[Oilacris]

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.

[JollyGood]

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.

[squatter]

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 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.

[JollyGood]

Has the issue of the repatriated remains been solved? I searched around a bit and this is the last media discussion of the body 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.

[JollyGood]

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....

[figmentofmyass]

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. as jesse powell points out in that thread, it's also just a theme we have seen all too many times in crypto:

the circumstances in the month leading up to this make it extremely suspect. It's like a Gox/Cryptsy combo. Fiat problems, crypto withdrawals up, capitulate/vanish.

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.

[JollyGood]

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.