A new Netflix true-crime documentary is tackling a bizarre story from the world of cryptocurrency. [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. Then it emerged that Jennifer had legally changed her name three times in the past few years, and a man sharing one of her former last names was at the center of an unsolved murder case. At first, the now-closed company allegedly blamed the delay on a legal issue with a bank. Quadriga Fintech Solutions - Wikipedia The media dragged Gerald Cotten's wife, Jennifer Robertson, into the spotlight after his mysterious death. 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. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Cotten passed away from complications that arose from Crohn's disease while on a honeymoon in Indiaapparently taking some $215 million of customer funds to the grave. How did Gerald Cotten die? A Quadriga mystery, from India to Canada and Citing decomposition concerns, lawyers requested the exhumation be completed no later than spring 2020. His death sparked online debates and string theories on Reddit and. His body was embalmed and sent back to Canada for a closed-casket funeral. 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. 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. Then you get rid of the fees. After some more digging, the reporter found an order form filled out by one Gerald Cotten. On the 9th, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest. We just send money from our Bitcoin app directly to those paper wallets, and keep it safe that way. His clients were locked out of about $250 million, and investigators later. pic.twitter.com/rGymJ5f9Or. There's a small chance that someone was investigating his old accounts and that they accessed his BlackHat but it's very unlikely. Then, out of the blue, one Mike Patryn joined the Telegram group that investors were using to discuss conspiracies. [17], In 2016, Cotten became the sole director of Quadriga when all the other directors resigned. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops delivered daily to your inbox. When Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly last year, hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds vanished into the crypto ether. 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. He appointed his wife as the executor of his estate, handing over a $9million real estate empire, his yacht and his Cessna plane - and he even left his two dogs an inheritance of $100,000. Mr Cottens story is now the subject of the documentary Dead Mans Switch: A Crypto Mystery, which streams on Discovery+, and in the new memoir of wife Jennifer Robertson, Bitcoin Widow: Love, Betrayal and the Missing Millions. Indian authorities maintain that Cotten, whose body was repatriated to Nova Scotia for a small closed-casket funeral, died on Dec. 9, 2018, shortly after checking into a luxury hotel in Jaipur. [34][35], On 14 January 2019,[36] Quadriga announced that their CEO, Gerald Cotten, had died the month prior from Crohn's disease while doing volunteer work at an orphanage in India. Overcast with rain showers at times. A C$24.7 million disbursement fund has been planned with C$300,000 to go to Cotten's widow, Jennifer Robertson, who advanced that amount to start the court proceedings; C$200,000 will go to Ernst & Young and another C$250,000 to its lawyers; C$229,842 will go to Quadriga's lawyers; and C$17,000 to independent contractors. thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, was thought to have had sole access to the funds and coins exchanged on it. The doctor, reported the Globe, initially diagnosed Cotten with little more than travelers diahrrea, but kept him in hospital just in case. The documentary follows a group of Quadriga investors turned sleuths who dig into the suspicious death of Cotten and the millions of missing cryptocurrency they believe Cotten stole from them, according to a tweet from Netflix announcing the film. For instance, had Cottens death certificate, which spelled his name as Cottan, been faked? November 28, 2022 by Nurudeen. Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. It essentially removes the need for a central authority. Wood ordered a "30-day stay that precludes filing of claims against Quadriga", which is a temporary legal protection from its creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, a legal status that allows insolvent corporations to restructure their business and financial affairs. A Canadian bank froze another $21 million of funds. 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. Zou trusted Quadriga CX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with C$500,000 (305,000). G erald Cotten was 15 when he ran his first documented get-rich-quick scheme. 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. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. Even today, some investors remain unconvinced that Cotten really is dead. But Bitcoin crashed at the end of 2018, and Cottens flashy lifestyle needed cash to sustain itself. Quadriga's accounts are estimated to have held 190million ($250million). Netflix's 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' explores the story of Gerald Cotten, founder and CEO of Canadian crypto exchange business QuadrigaCX, whose passed away unexpectedly in 2018. Crypto CEO's Mysterious Death Will Be Made Into Netflix Doc 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. Cotten and Patryn's past: He's also been linked to many other "Cryptocurrency markets" in the past with his old partner Patryn who has changed his name twice because he was charged with laundering money. However, it was eventually discovered that Gerald had transferred all of his belongings to his wife before his death. It just wasnt there. His will was signed off just two weeks before he and wife Jennifer Robertson travelled to India on their honeymoon. Thats when the. 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. - Watch Full Details ! Rather than pay customers via bank wires, they were told to come to a nondescript building in Laval, Quebec to pick up the cash. The teen, a bright computer enthusiast from Belleville, Ontario, ran the operation on an online forum called TalkGold, and promised his investors inconceivable returns of up to 150 per cent in two days. Gerald Cotten faked his death? QuadrigaCX Full Story Uncovered. Was a recently-active Skype account proof he was still alive? The laptop computer from which Gerry carried out the companies business is encrypted and I do not know the password or recovery key. There was no autopsy on the body, for instance, and Cotten had signed his will two weeks after he diedleaving his riches to Jennifer. There were other problems around that time. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix | Where Are They Now?Subscribe Here! The user said that he left the company in 2016, and that the company was legitimate at the time. It apparently had no formal accounting system. Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness (Holt). He first encountered Bitcoin in Vancouver, British . (His wife says he is in fact dead and witnessed his funeral). Investors want QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten's remains exhumed According to an investigation by Canada's Globe and Mail, Cotten. Since his death, Cotten has been recast as a habitual scammer who would enjoy the thrill of knowing he was duping his customers and investors. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. Another "appears to have been used to receive Bitcoin from another cryptocurrency exchange account and subsequently transfer Bitcoin to the Quadriga hot wallet" on 3 December. ET. [54], A 2021 8-episode podcast entitled Exit Scam followed the buildup of Quadriga, and investigated whether Gerald Cotten had faked his own death. I'm 99% sure he is still alive living nicely. 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. Robertson has not been accused of any wrongdoing - and has denied any knowledge of her husband's business dealings. The podcast was hosted by Takara Small. 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. How Gerald Cotten, the "Crypto King," Really Died - Bustle In December of 2018, the jet-setting crypto couple headed to India for their honeymoon, where Mr Cotten died of complications from Crohns disease, 12 days after modifying his will. [17] In June 2017, Quadriga announced that they had lost ethereum worth US$14 million due to a smart contract error. No longer a likable nerd, investors thought that Gerald, now sceptre, had been operating scams since he was 15. "[40][41], Ernst & Young found five Quadriga cold wallet addresses, but they were empty, containing no cryptocurrency since April 2018. My sisters not a liar.. The two first met in November 2014 and had been together for some time before tying the knot in October 2018. A computer issue wiped $14 million of Ethereum off the exchange. ^ "Quadriga CEO's widow speaks out over his death and the missing crypto millions". Where Is Gerald Cotten's Wife, Jennifer Robertson Now? - Ecelebritymirror Many believe that Cotten faked his death, however, as part of an exit scam to get away with. Gerald 'Gerry' Cotten | FAKE Behind 'Hunt For The Crypto King' Netflix "It just makes me more depressed about it," Zou told Sky News. 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. Gerald and Jennifer kept most of their relationship away from the public. Exit Scam host Aaron Lammer told CoinDesk: "My read was that, on some level, Gerry was addicted to scamming, "Addicted to stealing peoples money. Cbc.ca. But the money, of course, was still missing. California (2) Massachusetts (1) Texas (2) Refine Your Search Results. [1], The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. "So far, nothing's been found. At this point, lots of investors think that Cotten, a man alleged to have a history of scamming, really had faked his own death. The user said that he left the company in 2016, and that the company was legitimate at the time. Some have speculated that Gerald Cotten faked his own death and basically got a knock-off death certificate in India or perhaps he was killed by his business partners but even the death itself is incredibly suspicious. Where is Gerald Cotten's Wife Jen Robertson Now? - The Cinemaholic Resides in Beverly Hills, CA. Some evidence suggested that Jennifer, if real, was acting strangely. 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. Jennifer RobertsonGerry Cotten,. In court filings, it was revealed that Mr Cottens email was listed as Midas Golds contact. firms", "What happens when your bitcoin banker dies? March 30, 2022. Robertson has denied any knowledge of her husband's wrongdoing - and in 2019 returned $9million to the company to repay users. Investors who lost $190m demand exhumation of cryptocurrency mogul [16] In 2014 only C$7.4 million worth of bitcoin were exchanged on Quadriga. A 33-YEAR-OLD man lost his life savings after getting involved with a cryptocurrency trader who died, taking the password to access funds to the grave. She has also said she has no idea what the passwords are to access sequestered customer funds, and that it wasnt written down anywhere. [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. Two years after Liberty Reserve was taken down, the pair launched Quadriga, though Mr Patryn left the company in 2016 over a dispute on whether to list the company publicly and claims no involvement in the resulting schemes. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King. They also found a substantial amount of money was used to fund a lavish lifestyle for the couple, including the use of private jets and luxury vehicles. Then the Ontario Securities Commission opened an investigation. "At that time, there was nothing I could do. Supposedly, Cottens business associates didnt even know he was married. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. He graduated from York with a bachelor of business administration in 2010. , 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. 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. I'm new to this subreddit, I apologise if anything I have said breaks the rules. [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. The company's CEO and founder, Gerald William Cotten, allegedly died in 2018 after traveling to India. It has led the pack of other streaming giants, producing the most projects in the true-crime genre as of 2020. Something was afoot. Where was the rest of the money? And meanwhile, Dead Man's Switch director Sheona McDonald said: "There's only two people who really know what happened in India.". To add credence to the theory that he faked his own death and is still alive, Bloomberg reported that the crypto exchange founder filed his will just 12 days before he apparently died. Still, questions about the missing money only mounted when two. It was alleged that Patryn was involved in a money-laundering ring under a different nameOmar Dhanani. Quadriga's customers are owed C$260 million in cryptocurrency and cash. Though some dont believe Mr Cotten is really gone, the money from Quadriga is. https://bit.ly/3cAIH4j Newest Vid's https://bit.ly/3JkFmEqFollow Us On Facebook https://bit.ly/3oh5cS8Gerald Cotten or Gerry Cotten's life and tragic passing are shrouded in mystery. 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. Then Gerald Cotten suddenly died, in December of 2018, from complications with Crohn's disease. 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. 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. 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. It left Robertson the entire C$9.6-million estate and named her as the trustee. [47], Gerald Cotten's widow has maintained that she knew nothing about her husband's activities and agreed to forfeit $12 million in assets. 5 She had accompanied him to a hospital in Jaipur the previous day and he was diagnosed with septic shock, perforation, peritonitis, and intestinal obstruction. (India is notorious for forging fake death certificates by paying people off). A sneak preview of the Netflix doc contains images that suggest the documentary will show the investors dive deeper into these conspiracies. "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. For instance, had Cottens death certificate, which spelled his name as Cott, , been faked? And not even he thinks that Gerald is deadnor did he ever meet his wife. Gerald Cotten Still Alive ? Someone tracked Patryn to a scam forum called TalkGold, where Patryn talked to one user in particular, sceptre, a bunch. Quadriga had four employees in 2015 with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, but ran out of money by June 2015. [27] Another payment processor used by Quadriga, Crypto Capital, was named in a civil suit filed by the New York Attorney General in April 2019. I put myself into a deep hole and the only way to dig out of it was to sell my house.. His body was repatriated to Canada and a funeral was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 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. [30], According to Jennifer Robertson, Cotten's widow, he died on 9 December 2018 while travelling in India. His wife Jennifer Robertson said he had promised to create a mechanism that turned thepasswords over to her when he died. Jennifer, scared for her safety, entered a safe house. 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? Mystery of rogue Bitcoin trader who 'died' taking with - The Sun The couple were on their honeymoon in India, where Jennifer had dreams of opening an orphanage. Was the CEOknown for his luxurious lifestyle, which included jets, supercars and vacationsmurdered by a mob debt collector or a jealous lover? We pay for your stories! "[46] The Official Ontario Securities report on Quadriga is attached here. The Secret Life and Strange Death of Quadriga Founder Gerald Cotten 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. Shortly after, the exchange stopped working entirely. (Neither men were charged in connection with Liberty Reserve). What Happened to Jennifer Robertson and Where Is Gerald Cotten's Wife Now? Photo by Gaetano Cessati on Unsplash. But when co-founder Cotten died during a honeymoon in India, the money was seemingly lost forever. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Sign up for notifications from Insider! The company raised C$850,000 but cancelled plans to list on the exchange in early 2016. Cotten passed away from complications that arose from Crohns disease while on a honeymoon in Indiaapparently taking some $215 million of customer funds to the grave. https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/hiring-a-programmer-website-like-bitstamp-bitcoin-trading-project.605236/. Still, all this evidence was circumstantialinvestors hadnt yet found a smoking gun. Subsequent investigations found that Michael Patryn, one of the co-founders, registered the domain name for QuadrigaCXnot Gerry. Gerald Betzen (4 matches): Phone Number, Email, Address - Spokeo Browse Locations. "It did become an obsession.. It was one of the only games in town [for crypto enthusiasts], Sheona McDonald, who directed the film, told The New York Post. The investors found more questions than answers. Premieres in 2022 pic.twitter.com/rP9iFJHkWm. Thinking that Jennifer had murdered Cotten, the Telegram group spiraled out of control. https://bit.ly/3cAIH4j Newest Vid's https:. lets break it all down. [22][23] C$28 million held by Costodian, a Quadriga payment processor, was frozen by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in January 2018. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere, she said in court filings. "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King". Image Source: Social Media. The business was run from Cotten's encrypted laptop from Cotten's home in Fall River, Nova Scotia. Its pretty much money by people for people.. 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? [48], On 5 February 2019, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Either the funds were never received or quickly went missing. The Netflix documentary will follow investors-turned-investigators looking into theories on the founder's sudden death. 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. Where is Gerald Cotten now from Netflix's Hunt for the Crypto - HITC