The missing funds from the Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX are still a hot topic in almost every major crypto news media outlet especially since new information shows that its co-founder has a criminal past.
The co-founder was an ex-con who was charged for 18 months in jail by a Federal US prison for bank fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft. Michael Patryn or by his old name Omar Dhanani which was changed two times co-founded the exchange with Gerald Cotten who passed away on December 30, 2018. Patryn denied the allegations initially but records were obtained that show he changed his name legally twice.
Patryn hasn’t commented on his criminal past and why he changed his name back in 2008 while he was living in British Colombia, Canada.
After Cotten died in Jaipur, India due to Crohn’s Disease complications, the exchange went into total chaos mode since he was the only one who had the private keys of the exchange where more than $190 million customer assets were stuck. About 120,000 people were unable to access their funds or to withdraw their funds including the man who lost nearly half a million dollars in life savings.
Dhanani pleaded guilty to multiple crimes he had done in the US including credit card and bank fraud when he was 22. He also pleaded guilty to multiple charges on grand larceny, burglary, and computer fraud. He was deported to Canada and there he was able to change his identity where he promoted himself as a bitcoin entrepreneur who helped Cotten establish his crypto exchange.
After the exchange collapsed and customers filed reports about being unable to withdraw their funds, information broke out that the company claimed to be insolvent. Some were even convinced that Cotten faked his death in order to steal the funds from the cold wallet reserves of Quadriga.
The third-party auditor Ernst & Young were assigned to track down the missing funds and some of the victims hired lawyers to try and recover their investments during the creditor protection proceedings in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
The court assigned 45 more days for the exchange to search the missing funds and the next hearing will happen in April.
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