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For anyone interested looking into a recent case with some publicity: Gerald Cotten was the CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange. It was reported that he died whi

For anyone interested looking into a recent case with some publicity: Gerald Cotten was the CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange. It was reported that he died while traveling abroad due to health complications and was cremated where he died. He was the only person who had the private keys for the exchange's coins, and the coins went missing.

amscanne 7y ago
I think that’s the conspiracy theory version. He died in India (and admittedly some details were strange), but AFAIK the body was returned to Canada before being cremated. The lost keys nonsense has all evaporated. It was just a standard Ponzi scheme [1]. Had it all been planned, I would assume they’d have left things in a less disastrous state (Gerald and his co-conspirators). [1] https://documentcentre.eycan.com/eycm_library/Quadriga%20Fintech%20Solutions%20Corp/English/CCAA/1.%20Monitor's%20Reports/6.%20Fifth%20Report%20of%20the%20Monitor/Fifth%20Report%20of%20the%20Monitor%20dated%20June%2019,%202019.PDF https://documentcentre.eycan.com/eycm_library/Quadriga%20Fin...
- Thorrez 7y ago
  Maybe he did it because things got so disastrous that he couldn't think of any other way out. > If he looks into it further and finds out that the person who vanished in that water was in serious debt or that they were “some kind of reluctant witness or litigant who has the resources to disappear in a puff of smoke,” he says it’s “just the most obvious thing. We see it all the time.”
  - amscanne 7y ago
    Maybe. I have a hard time believing that someone smart enough to set up the whole exchange and run it couldn’t think of a better way to make a clean exit and not leave an enormous mess for his wife. She would need to help, bringing the “body” back to Canada, testifying about the hospital and what happened, etc. So the bet is she can handle everything, claim she wasn’t involved, and after a few years go and join Gerry in India somewhere? That’s a fools plan. Then again, most criminals aren’t smart. Maybe he was just lucky for a while. It’s possible, but I still think it’s more likely that everything was going to shit for a while and he happened to die. If he hadn’t died, given the BTC rally this year and renewed interest, he probably would have had a fresh infusion of capital and we might not even know!

amscanne 7y ago

I think that’s the conspiracy theory version. He died in India (and admittedly some details were strange), but AFAIK the body was returned to Canada before being cremated. The lost keys nonsense has all evaporated. It was just a standard Ponzi scheme [1]. Had it all been planned, I would assume they’d have left things in a less disastrous state (Gerald and his co-conspirators). [1] https://documentcentre.eycan.com/eycm_library/Quadriga%20Fintech%20Solutions%20Corp/English/CCAA/1.%20Monitor's%20Reports/6.%20Fifth%20Report%20of%20the%20Monitor/Fifth%20Report%20of%20the%20Monitor%20dated%20June%2019,%202019.PDF https://documentcentre.eycan.com/eycm_library/Quadriga%20Fin...

Thorrez 7y ago
Maybe he did it because things got so disastrous that he couldn't think of any other way out. > If he looks into it further and finds out that the person who vanished in that water was in serious debt or that they were “some kind of reluctant witness or litigant who has the resources to disappear in a puff of smoke,” he says it’s “just the most obvious thing. We see it all the time.”
- amscanne 7y ago
  Maybe. I have a hard time believing that someone smart enough to set up the whole exchange and run it couldn’t think of a better way to make a clean exit and not leave an enormous mess for his wife. She would need to help, bringing the “body” back to Canada, testifying about the hospital and what happened, etc. So the bet is she can handle everything, claim she wasn’t involved, and after a few years go and join Gerry in India somewhere? That’s a fools plan. Then again, most criminals aren’t smart. Maybe he was just lucky for a while. It’s possible, but I still think it’s more likely that everything was going to shit for a while and he happened to die. If he hadn’t died, given the BTC rally this year and renewed interest, he probably would have had a fresh infusion of capital and we might not even know!