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QuadrigaCX's Crypto Accounts Were Emptied Months Before CEO's Mysterious Death, Putting Fate of $137 Million In Doubt (businessinsider.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Business Insider: Millions of dollars were missing when the CEO of a crypto exchange died without sharing the passwords to his accounts. Investigators recently cracked his laptop -- only to find the money was gone. Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, was thought to have had sole access to the funds and coins exchanged on it. After his death in December, his colleagues said that about $137 million in cryptocurrency belonging to about 115,000 customers was held offline in "cold storage" and inaccessible. The case has sparked numerous theories, including that Cotten faked his own death and ran off with the cash. A court-appointed auditor, Ernst & Young, was able to crack Cotten's laptop and found that the accounts were emptied in April, eight months before his death, it said in a report last week.

The investigators said they found other issues too, such as that Quadriga kept "limited books and records" and never reported its financials. Ernst & Young also said it found 14 user accounts linked to Cotten that traded on Quadriga's exchange and withdrew cryptocurrency to addresses not tied to Quadriga. Burdened with $190 million in debt and unable to find or access the money, Quadriga filed for creditor protection in late January. A Nova Scotia court threw the company a lifeline this week, granting it a 45-day extension that prevents creditors from filing lawsuits against it until mid-April.

4 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. So you don't trust banks? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 5, Funny

    See how much better off you are converting your life savings into an online hoarding token whose value changes daily, and then entrusting your hoard to an AC on the Internet.

    There's a job waiting for you: Finance Minister of Venezuela.

  2. Re:Is Cotton really dead? by lazarus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard from a reliable source that Cotten is actually Cowboy Neil and that he and Malda have been seen drunk with prostitutes in Macau.

    --
    I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
  3. Re: Is Cotton really dead? by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bold move Cotton, let's see if it pays off

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  4. Re:Alt headline: by DalM · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, except for the fact that US Banks are typically publicly traded companies, with very serious third-party accredited accountant firms watching every penny, heavily regulated by the Federal Government and insured by the FDIC.

    But besides that small fact, exactly the same.