Everybody is a genius, said Albert Einstein, and every Redditor is an Einstein. He befriended Cotten in 2016 in Toronto, where Cotten had moved during the effort to take Quadriga public. He used to crack jokes all the time. One Quadriga contractor claims today that the payment processor WB21, now the subject of federal lawsuits in the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, stole $14 million, and that another processor stole $5.8 million. It begins with a few findings that do not fit neatly into the Royal Fuckup narrative. Its clients tended to be surgeons and litigators and C-suiters who travel from Toronto and Paris and Hawaii to summer in Nova Scotia; their wives wear silks and Manolos and perfect fingernails that cost $300 yesterday at the salon. Details emerging about Gerald Cotten, the young founder of QuadrigaCX Cotten opened his account three months later, shortly after his 15th birthday. It was the largest online money-laundering case in American history: Liberty Reserves 5.5 million user accounts had conducted 78 million transactions worth more than $8 billion. The couple's relationship began in 2014 when Robertsonswiped right on Cotten's Tinder profile. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King delves into the circumstances surrounding Gerrys death and what happened to the company after that. The whisper campaign likely began after Ryan Mueller, who conducted oversight for a third-party processor in Vancouver, was asked to review Quadrigas application. He was described as an ex-business partner who had met Cotten online over five years ago. He was like a ray of sunshine, Patryn told the interviewer. His parents owned an antiques store; Cotten decided to go into crypto. Twelve properties are currently held by Robertson Nova Property Management Ltd., a company registered toRobertson's home address. Back in 2018, 30-year-old Cotten took a trip to India with his now widow Jennifer Robertson for their honeymoon and to open an orphanage. This meant that multiple customers were missing over $180 million. Patryn would tell friends that theyd first met in a con artist meet-cute, like the thieves in an Ernst Lubitsch film who fall in love while picking each others pockets. There were limits, furthermore, to the scope of the monitors investigation. On May 24, 2013, federal agents in 17 countries arrested Liberty Reserves administrators, shuttering its website and seizing its records and bank accounts. There were other financial problems for Cotten, too: CIBC had frozen $26 millionof the company's funds because of "suspicious activity" and another $10 millionwas locked away by a software bug. I was one of five nonwhites working in capital markets in Vancouver.) Patryn shortly resumed posting on TalkGold and other HYIP forums and opened a series of businesses that brokered digital currencies. And he willas long as everyone else believes he hasnt. They married in Scotland in October 2018. Ad Choices. Nobody followed up with him. Under the most charitable interpretation of Cottens actions, the public bid marks the moment that he decided to go straight. Cotten flushed. Cotten ran his own succession of schemes throughout those years, during which he also attended an undergraduate honors program at York Universitys Schulich School of Business. $215M missing: Mysterious death of CEO of Canada's largest He also accepted cash deposits. Within hours of the announcement of Cottens death, a crowdsourced, scrupulously documented investigation, applying the logic and methodology of the blockchain, was afoot. 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. He seemed lonely. In this way Cotten could have stowed away a fortune in foreign bank accounts in preparation for a grand exit. The amateurs most valuable advantage is time. [4] In her memoir, Bitcoin Widow: Love . While he lost thousands of dollars when Quadriga shut down, he said adding up the losses of friends and family to whom he had recommended the trading platform, the totalsits at more than $1 million. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. Inside Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushners Gilded Florida ParadiseFar From Donald Trump or 2024, Chaos lingers at the periphery, but the Trump-Kushner marriage is thriving in exile. How did Jennifer Robertson and Gerry Cotten meet? It concerned Quadrigas cofounder. He was sturdy and muscular, with blackwork tattoos and a face that in repose seemed to glower. She was allowed to keep money, a car, her wedding band, some jewelry, and shares in Quindraga Fintech, among other things. According to an investigation by Canada's Globe and Mail, Cotten. In the original account, Cotten fell sick nine days into his Indian honeymoon, shortly after checking into the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur on December 8, 2018. He was driven to a private hospital and diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. But when the banks, the law, and the forces of Reddit tried to track down the cash, it turned out the young mogul may not have been who he purported to be. However, the couple never arrived at the house, and the honeymoon did not go as planned. When he did file, he claimed no income from Quadriga. They wanted revenge. There was no such constraint on the outraged creditorsor the true believers who saw in Quadrigas collapse an existential threat to cryptocurrencys integrity at just the moment it had assumed an eggshell veneer of legitimacy. When S&S suspended operations three months later, taking most of its clients funds with it, Patryn took to TalkGold to defend Cottens integrity. QuadrigaCX founder's widow owns $7.5M in Nova Scotia real estate Nine days later Cotten is believed to have died due. "I did let that go to the lawyers and the contractors, and I trusted that they knew what to do," she said. Some of the early visitors to the Vancouver Quadriga office even thought the exchange was just a show. Quadriga mystery deepens with little evidence of cold wallets containing $250M, QuadrigaCX founder used aliases, moved assets into personal accounts: report, Lawyers for QuadrigaCX clients seek exhumation of late founder's remains, Curious about cryptocurrency? Its just completely out of their wheelhouse, says a Quadriga creditor and cryptocurrency expert who was interviewed after publishing his findings online under the moniker QCXINT. (In response to these allegations, Patryn denied the existence of check printing machines and pay stubs and suggested that visitors to the office were confused by scanners and cash counters.). OFFICE SPACE Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. During that time Quadriga continued to accept new funds but returned none. This was the detail that most shocked cryptocurrency professionals. Among those Mueller warned was Amber Scott, an anti-money-laundering expert at a compliance firm in Toronto called Outlier Solutions. While I warned people privately, I wasnt shouting it from the rooftops. The circumstances around Cotten's sudden death left investorswith questions. . We now know that Cotten began, no later than 2015, to steal his clients funds. Retrieved 18 January 2022. Cotten died later that same year of complications from Crohn's disease, when the couple was on a honeymoon in India. At the time, he was the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a company that performed cryptocurrency exchanges. But there were questions regarding Gerrys death and the events surrounding it. Cotten knew the catchphrases and the talking points, but he seemed most interested in Bitcoins speculative possibilities. But when she met Cotten at the Toronto Bitcoin hub Decentral, she found him funny and sweet. Cotten may be hoping Robertson will join him once all the investigations have concluded, or she may be just another one of his victims. "He was the nicest, caring, most loving husband. 2023 Cond Nast. Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp. shut down in January following the death of founder and Chief Executive Officer Gerald Cotten, leaving some 115,000 customers out of pocket for about $260 million in cryptocurrencies and cash. On their honeymoon in India, they intended to visit Robertson and Gerald Cotten House in Jaipur. He was always smiling, really friendly, offering stuff, says Alex Salkeld, a member of the original Vancouver Bitcoin circle. Pitbull is a pal, Carbone is for dinner, and, The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. About 76,000 individuals held accounts on Quadriga, and some of the most technically sophisticated of them were out hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Hes what youd call, says Mueller, a real motherfucker.. There is yet another possibility, one that none of the cases investigators is willing to discount. Within months, things went from bad to worse for everyone involved. Cotten built his career on the insight that most people are willing to believe most of what they are told most of the time. If you blur your eyes, this narrativeGerry Tries to Make Goodnearly coheres. He cleared trees and built a house, though he had no apparent plans to move in. The cautionary tales of fortunes lost because of misplaced private keys have the quality, in Bitcoin mythology, of the homilies delivered at religious gatherings. The plan, from the beginning, would be to keep the con going as long as possible before vanishing with the money. Patryns departure was followed by the departure of the rest of the board, which included Patryns fiance, named Lovie Horner, and Anthony Milewski, a Patryn associate reportedly backed by Russian mining interests. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Gerry appeared to have taken full control, says Andrew Wagner. Jennifer Robertson - WikiAlpha By that point, however, a new Gerald Cotten venture was already six months old. It was a terrible, terrible moment," she said. Deeds for properties she bought in 2016 show she was once known as Jennifer Forgeron. He seemed to prefer acquaintances over friends. He used to say he didnt open up to many people, but he was able to open up to me.. Why did Robertson wait a month to notify investors of his death? Robertson had already been briefly married. Theres no way that a man like Gerry, with all his knowledge and his mind-set, would leave it to chance. When Perklin read that Cotten was the only person with the passwords to the companys holdings and had made no contingency plan should he be unable to access them, whether because of incapacitation, kidnapping, or death, my jaw kept on dropping to the point where it couldnt have dropped anymore.. As the cryptocurrency soared in value, Robertson and Cotten lived a life of luxury that included exotic vacations, luxury vehicles, a yacht and a Cessna aircraft. Four desks in a weird room, no business operations going on. Id like a boat that I can cruise locally, said the smiling boy, and then take south. He wanted to reach the Caribbean without having to stop in Canada or the United States. (Courtesy of Jennifer Robertson) The first thing. I dont get to hold myself blameless. Once, Cotten mentioned that his business partner was visiting Toronto and asked her to coffee. He would have new names and passports, perhaps a new face. The sudden death of Gerald Cotten in December 2018 plunged the world of cryptocurrency into chaos. "I hadn't understood how Quadriga had held money in the first place;I thought it was just a trade," she said. His death left investors locked out of their money and left Jennifer Robertson, Gerrys wife, to deal with the fallout. Gerald Cotten: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com Gerald Cotten lied to thousands of investors in his crypto exchange, and deceived his wife Jennifer Robertson, a new book claims. They asked me about 20 times if he was alive, says one witness who has intimate knowledge of Quadrigas workings and has been questioned by both agencies. She is trying to put her life back together and is working as a waitress part-time. When national news articles began to appear a month later, they emphasized another detail: Cotten was the only person with the passwords to the accounts holding Quadrigas fundscryptocurrency and cashworth approximately a quarter billion U.S. dollars. Nova Scotia's property registry shows Robertson, her husbandand her company bought 16 properties between May 2016 and October 2018, ranging in price from $94,000for a waterfront lot in Lunenburg County to $2.5 million for nine row houses in Bedford. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. It was a gentle, unflappable smile. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police asked questions so rudimentary that they shocked the experts they interviewed. J ennifer Robertson was widowed when Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, died suddenly in India in December, leaving behind a business in chaos and as much as $180 million of cryptocurrency. Quadriga Fund claimed to be operated by four (unnamed) investment managers. In a gambit of either flagrant carelessness or irrepressible egotism, Dhanani officially changed his name to the pseudonym he had used in his online criminal ventures, first to Omar Patryn and later to Michael Patryn. It took more than a month for QuadrigaCX to publicly announce Cotten's death and then another two weeks for Jennifer Robertson to admit the customer funds were inaccessible." Michael MacDonald (2019-07-16). Gox abruptly suspended operations, claiming that hackers had stolen $473 million from customer accounts. It just seemed so out of character for Gerry not to have any kind of backup plan, says Michael Perklin, who started the worlds first blockchain security consultancy and had worked for CaVirTex. On Tuesday, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge grantedQuadriga's request for creditor protection from as many as 115,000 clients who, according to court documents,are owed roughly $250 million. Gerald had a clean record, he could speak to the masses, while Michael operated the back end. (Patryn: I would say that the opposite is more accurate. It put strangers at ease; it made him seem lighthearted. (Candace Berry. Quadrigas entire board resigned, leaving Cotten as Quadrigas only full-time employee. On the polished granite island are a vase of pink roses, the discarded lid of an ice cream carton, a copy of National Geographic, and dozens of dictionary-thick, rubber-banded stacks of Canadian currency in crisp 20s, 50s, and 100s. Be a smarter, safer investor in eight weeks. He never mentioned Patryn in her presence again. The guy just always had a big goofy smile and laugh. "And I remember asking him that in the car, like, 'What do you mean by that? EXIT SCAM @exitscampod Twitter profile | Pikagi He rejected Quadrigas application and forwarded his investigation to contacts in law enforcement. With that, Bitcoin became like any other form of currency, a mass delusion: Its value derived from the belief that it had value. It detailed C$12 million in real estate holdings, the Lexus, the Cessna, and the Gulliver; it left C$100,000 for the care of their Chihuahuas. Jennifer stressed she had no knowledge of her husbands fraudulent activities and wondered why he did what he did. Robertson maintains she knew little about the company's inner workings, and largely did as she was told. Gerald Cottenwas just 30whenhedied in India in December 2018. Not least due to the fact that allegedly only Cotten knew the passwords to the cold wallets worth nearly $ 190 million. Gerry the Mastermind might think he will get away with it. Robertson isn't under investigation and has never faced criminal charges. Canadian Press. But he never did. "Whenever people put their money into the exchange, he sort of used it as his personal slush fund," she said. She froze and said something about having to shampoo her cats. Overnight, Quadriga became Canadas dominant Bitcoin marketplace. No autopsy was requested. Jennifer Robertson (Quadriga) - Wikipedia In the fall of 2016, Bitcoin began its wild rise. The Story Behind QuadrigaCX and Gerald Cotten, Netflix's - CoinDesk And the fact that he did what he did I carry his shame with me. But on December 9, 2018, Gerry died at a local hospital because of complications resulting from Crohns disease at the age of 30. "Everything that I knew about Gerry seems to have been a lie. I love electric. The whole thing would cost $600,000, but expense never came uponly safety. And exhuming the body would be a really huge step. Eric Schletz, the pilot who brokered Cottens purchase of the Cessna 400, has described having seen Cotten walking through an airport with $50,000 in cash. The smiling boy visited Sunnybrook Yachts in the summer of 2017, after the value of Bitcoin had reached an all-time high, having tripled in five months. Most of these early acolytes were drawn to the digital currencys libertarian ethos, its promises of decentralization, transparency, speed, and independence from governments and financial institutions. You don'thave like Aaron Matthews [Quadriga's director of operations] or anybody that would be able tokeep the company on? Then he flew to India, where things managed to get even worse. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. As Quadriga customers tried to pull their money from the exchange, they were met with long waits to access their funds. Gerald Cotten, a Nova Scotia resident originally from Ontario, was 30 years old when he died suddenly while travelling in India on Dec. 9 -- leaving his virtual company, QuadrigaCX, without access . (For months, Miller Thomson, the Bay Street law firm appointed to represent the class of creditors, received hundreds of emails a day inquiring about the lost funds, and answered such a constant barrage of phone callsheartbreakers about lost pensions and college savings, babies crying in the backgroundthat its lawyers could do little else.) Gerald Cotten didn't just cause investors to lose millions he deceived his wife, Jennifer Robertson for years. Archived from the original on 2021-05-22. She has co-authored a book titled Bitcoin Widow: Love, Betrayal and the Missing Millions that details her experiences with Gerry. They were excited. (At press time those pizzas would be valued at $82,373,500.) Two other properties, including Cotten and Robertson's home in Fall River, have been transferred to the Seaglass Trust, which lists Robertson as a trustee. Robertson said "everything was crazy" after Cotten died andher lawyers were the ones who decided to wait weeks before letting investors know about Cotten's death. They usually did the outreaching; nobody had reached out to them before. In 2017, Quadriga processed nearly $2 billion in trades from 363,000 individual accounts, taking a cut of every transaction. Because Canadian banks wanted nothing to do with Bitcoin, users had to transfer funds through a series of intermediaries, bleeding transaction fees. Cotten rarely brought up his work, but details emerged. The Nova Scotia Supreme Court declared the company bankrupt and selected the accounting firm Ernst & Young to serve as its third-party monitor, responsible for securing the lost funds belonging to Quadrigas creditors. After he squandered what remained in Quadrigas coffers, the price of Bitcoin plunged, and there was a run on the exchange. Essentially, Gerry gambled away customer money through trading. Gerald Cotten - WikiAlpha In October 2004, TalkGold members began to debate whether Patryn might in fact be Omar Dhanani, one of 28 suspects who had been arrested by the U.S. Secret Service in a global sting operation targeting an online marketplace for stolen credit card information and forged documents. The ethical distinctions between the models may have been vanishingly subtle, but the logic of the con would predict its fate, and Cottens. Patryn joined TalkGold on April 3, 2003, the year the site launched. She expressed a desire to move on with the next chapter of my life. She may have to change her name one more time in order to do so. Jennifer Robertson was widowed whenCotten, the founder ofQuadrigaCX, died suddenly in India in December, leaving behind a business in chaos and as much as $180 million of cryptocurrency locked in his encrypted laptop and USB keys. The will made no mention of the external hard drives, called cold wallets, in which Cotten had stored most of Quadrigas funds. Despite all this, Quadriga should have had about C$200 million of its customers funds in its cold walletsthe external hard drives, disconnected from the internet, that functioned like bank vaults. Because Canadian banks refused to accept cryptocurrency businesses as clients, Quadriga had to rely on third-party processors, which levied outrageous fees and in some cases stole funds outright. Cottens trades were so bizarre, and so risky, that this seemed plausiblejust as plausible, perhaps, as the idea that Cotten believed a series of Hail Mary bets on Zcash would come through. All rights reserved. Gerald "Gerry" Cotten died in 2018, taking with him a password to access funds Photo credit: Netflix. What Happened to Jennifer Robertson and Where Is Gerald Cotten's - MSN