[2019-02-08] The suspicion behind the death of QuadrigaCX CEO

[BestCoinInvestments]

Is Gerald Cotten really dead? Is there even a BTC cold storage? Mysterious past bonds with a convict and an anonymous Reddit user claiming to be “extremely close with the family”.

Recently, the suspicious death of QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald William Cotten is the number one topic in the cryptocurrency field. He died in India due to complications from Crohn's disease, just two weeks after filing a will, and getting married to his wife. QuadrigaCX is now offline owing around $190 million to their customers because Cotten had full control over the private keys connected with the funds.

These funds include 26,500 bitcoins, 11K bitcoin cash, 11K bitcoin SV, 35K bitcoin gold, close to 200K litecoin, and about 430K ether. Summed together, the inaccessible wealth comes to a grand total of $147 million. Moreover, QuadrigaCX itself has under half a million dollars in cash. Also, they have about $50 million which is stuck in a Canadian bank due to a legal dispute. Some of this money actually belongs to QuadrigaCX customers.

It is very hard to find something about Gerald William Cotten and his wife Jennifer Kathleen Margaret Robertson. They have no social background, profiles, photos, anything that would indicate that they are actually real. Nevertheless, we will just have to assume it is because of recent incidents. We tried to put all of these past events together, so you can make your own judgments about what is going on with Quadriga.

Read more in our recent article: https://bestcoininvestments.com/the-suspicion-behind-the-death-of-quadrigacx-ceo/

[figmentofmyass]

He died in India due to complications from Crohn's disease, just two weeks after filing a will, and getting married to his wife.

even if we ignore all the coincidences, why would he have the foresight to write up a will but not to have contingency plans for transferring the exchange's private keys?

It is very hard to find something about Gerald William Cotten and his wife Jennifer Kathleen Margaret Robertson. They have no social background, profiles, photos, anything that would indicate that they are actually real.

whether that's his real name, i'm not sure, but cotten has made several public appearances over the years, like this interview. he's not a complete ghost. he also doesn't look very trustworthy either.....

[joniboini]

I don't really care he really dead or not, as long as customers can get their funds back (which seems difficult at this moment). They claimed to use a multi-sig wallet, now another source claims they lost the private keys. For a business that handles a lot of money, it is certainly difficult to believe. First Cryptopia, now Quadriga (and basically the rest exchange related to Cryptocapital).

[1Referee]

For a business that handles a lot of money, it is certainly difficult to believe. First Cryptopia, now Quadriga (and basically the rest exchange related to Cryptocapital).

This is just the beginning. At one point exchanges like Yobit and Hitbtc will follow, because every exchange that starts shady, mostly ends shady. It was like that when I entered this space with Cryptsy and then Mintpal, and today nothing has changed. As long as people continue to use these shitty exchanges, they will continue to get scammed.

Scammers are who they are, we can't change anything about that from behind our screens. We can however stop using their exchanges, and with that we make sure that they don't have anything, or at least, way less in case they run off.

[hugeblack]

Lessons learned:

 - Do not trade on any untrusted platform> It has no real address, lots of dark things, little information about developers, lots of anonymous stuff,...etc "even though there were less than 1% of the doubts."
 - Do not use those platforms to store your coins, just enough to trade.

Personally, I see this story as unacceptable and laughable.
Can not tell customers I've lost my keys and lost your money.

[TimeTeller]

Lessons learned:

 - Do not trade on any untrusted platform> It has no real address, lots of dark things, little information about developers, lots of anonymous stuff,...etc "even though there were less than 1% of the doubts."
 - Do not use those platforms to store your coins, just enough to trade.

Personally, I see this story as unacceptable and laughable.
Can not tell customers I've lost my keys and lost your money.

Really not acceptable. Only that person is accountable in holding millions of dollars from their clients???
We're not that stupid to believe this scenario.
As a company, I don't buy the idea that he's the only person that can control all the vital info of this exchange.
It is too much to handle for a single person to do that. His staff should be properly investigated with this intolerable situation.
They should be held liable in any way. The reason why other people are hesitant to deal with cryptocurrencies is because of company like this.

[stomachgrowls]

I don't really care he really dead or not, as long as customers can get their funds back (which seems difficult at this moment). They claimed to use a multi-sig wallet, now another source claims they lost the private keys. For a business that handles a lot of money, it is certainly difficult to believe. First Cryptopia, now Quadriga (and basically the rest exchange related to Cryptocapital).

I'm expecting for an another news about another exchange hacks, owner's death's and another bullsh*t alibis that would pop-up soon.

About this QuadrigaxCX CEO's death.It is really questionable on why he's the only one who do hold all of users wallet private keys? As a company it is really hard to believe and with those
amounts being locked, i would definitely raised from the dead.

[Naida_BR]

QuadrigaCX is now offline owing around $190 million to their customers because Cotten had full control over the private keys connected with the funds.

How is that possible? How does an exchange know your private key? I mean.. It is private and you should only be the one to know it.

Too many coincidences I see that this should be investigated under high authorities. There should be a way for the customers to get their money back.

[cr1776]

He died in India due to complications from Crohn's disease, just two weeks after filing a will, and getting married to his wife.

even if we ignore all the coincidences, why would he have the foresight to write up a will but not to have contingency plans for transferring the exchange's private keys?

The implication is that he didn't have the contingency plans because he is still alive, he has the keys, and this was a fraud so he wouldn't want to have a plan to transfer the keys because he is taking off with the coins. 

Of course as long as people know the address(es) of those coins, they will be extremely difficult/impossible to move without detection.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Of course as long as people know the address(es) of those coins, they will be extremely difficult/impossible to move without detection.

Some people have spent a lot of time looking through Quadriga's addresses, and have found no evidence of a cold wallet even existing. The entire story about only him knowing the keys seems entirely fabricated - these supposed wallets and keys don't even exist. It seems Quadriga have essentially been running a Ponzi for several months, with deposits paying for withdrawals and the owner (+/- other members of the team?) constantly just skimming funds off the top for his own profit. Certainly the Quadriga hot wallets which are known about have continued to see movement after his alleged death, so the story doesn't hold true for these wallets either.

How is that possible? How does an exchange know your private key? I mean.. It is private and you should only be the one to know it.

If you hold your coins on an exchange, you are the one who doesn't know the private key. The private key, and therefore the coins, belong to the exchange, hence the phrase "not your key, not your bitcoin".

[davis196]

What if Gerald Gotten and hit wife aren't even real?If he was a real guy,I really doubt that he(or anybody else) would successfully counterfeit his own death and hide during the rest of his life somewhere in the third world,or living in a distant small island.This is probably the most genius exit scam of all times.

[o_e_l_e_o]

-snip-

Deaths can be faked and new identities can be bought for a lot less than the $150 million that has "gone missing". Quadriga required customers to undergo extensive KYC procedures, including using Equifax to access customers' credit reports, meaning he already has 100s of new identities he could use any time he likes. He could live quite happily (and very well off with all the money he has stolen) under a new identity in many countries which aren't "third world".

[sheenshane]

snip-

How is that possible? How does an exchange know your private key? I mean.. It is private and you should only be the one to know it.

If you hold your coins on an exchange, you are the one who doesn't know the private key. The private key, and therefore the coins, belong to the exchange, hence the phrase "not your key, not your bitcoin".

Yes, you're right mate. Indeed, it is not advisable to hold in a long time your Bitcoin or some coins on an exchange address, don't think that exchange is just like your wallet because you didn't hold the private key and it does not belong to you once you already deposit to the exchange site.

I have a question, is there any chance that the wife of Mr. Cotten will undergo authorities interrogation and conduct investigation like having an autopsy examination of his dead body? They didn't have proof of Mr. Cotten's passing by unless if their whole families are gone.

Condolence to CEO and the traders as well, they've lost a lot.

[o_e_l_e_o]

like having an autopsy examination of his dead body?

This is the simplest way to prove he was actually dead, even if it didn't prove the cause of death. The body could be confirmed to be his by cross examining against his dental records in Canada, or comparing the DNA to swabs taken from his house or to his parent's DNA. Identifying unknown bodies is a fairly common practice, and would put this case to rest immediately. However, his death certificate was dated 8th December, so he's been "dead" for two months. Plenty of time to hold a "funeral". I'm sure they will say the body was cremated or similar and so can't be recovered.

[coolcoinz]

It's so easy to get a fake anything from the government of India that it's starting to look like a joke that this guy chose this specific country. He was very smart about it. Got a life insurance, moved to a country where it's easy to hide and bribe people, a country where it's cheap to live and where there's no cameras in the street.
To top it all, before his death more than a million dollars in crypto was withdrawn from the exchange. Don't blame me for not believing in this setup.

[BLAST2MARS]

I hope I am not right but this year will be the year of EXIT SCAMS. Just because the CEO is dead, the funds is now inaccessable? What kind of management is that? And people should also stick to their minds that exchanges are not a good storage for funds and now that the 2 exchanges   have done it, I hope we will not reach to strike 3.

[figmentofmyass]

I hope I am not right but this year will be the year of EXIT SCAMS. Just because the CEO is dead, the funds is now inaccessable? What kind of management is that?

+1. with all the hype dead and trading volumes dried up, this is a very dangerous time to store your funds on exchanges. during the last bear market, it was gox, cryptsy, mintpal, etc that exit scammed......this time around, we've got quadriga, cryptopia, and probably ______ and ______ coming soon. stay safe out there, don't leave your coins on exchanges a second longer than you need to.....