Gerry Cotten may not be a name you’re familiar with – yet – but that’s all about to change thanks to the Netflix documentary The Hunt for the Crypto King.
Like many of the Netflix true crimes that have preceded it, it’s a strangely compelling real life story that delves into the mysterious death of Gerry Cotten.
However, many people believe the “cryptocurrency genius” isn’t dead at all.
Instead, they have accused Gerry of faking his own death in an attempt to steal millions…
Here’s everything you need to know about Gerry Cotten, and the Netflix film The Hunt for the Crypto King.
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The Hunt for the Crypto King on Netflix: Who is Gerry Cotten?
Gerry Cotten was – or is, depending on your point of view – a Canadian Bitcoin investor.
He’s described as a “cryptocurrency genius” who founded cryptocurrency trading platform QuadrigaCX.
QuadrigaCX was once Canada’s largest crypto exchange.
At one point, the platform held around £97million of money owned by its customers.
Gerry was chief executive and “the face” of the company.
What happened to Gerry Cotten?
Gerry Cotten reportedly died on his honeymoon.
And, with him, his company came crashing down – and the millions invested in it.
When Gerry died, so did the passwords to access $190million of Bitcoin.
At the time of his death, QuadrigaCX had millions of dollars in cryptocurrency, which it owed its 76,000 investors.
His company claimed that only Gerry had the passwords needed to access all the money…
I mean, it does sound insanely implausible – or pretty stupid.
QuadrigaCX declared bankruptcy soon after Gerry Cotten’s death.
Understandably, angry investors started to question if Gerry was really dead.
Or had he faked his own death and run off with all the money?
Many suspected that Gerry Cotten was involved with some shady people…
Investigation subsequently found that Gerry Cotten had squandered most of the funds on fraudulent trades.
Canada’s biggest securities regulator ruled that QuadrigaCX’s collapse was due to a Ponzi scheme operated by Gerry Cotten.
It found that Cotten had siphoned off assets for personal use.
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The Hunt for the Crypto King: How did Gerry Cotten die?
Gerry Cotten is said to have died from complications from Crohn’s disease while honeymooning in India in 2018.
On January 14 2019, QuadrigaCX announced that their CEO had died the month before from Crohn’s disease.
He was doing volunteer work at an orphanage in India at the time.
According to Cotten’s wife Jennifer Robertson, he had died on December 09 2018 at the age of 30.
She says she had accompanied Gerry to Fortis Hospital in Jaipur the previous day after he fell ill.
He was diagnosed with septic shock, perforation, peritonitis, and intestinal obstruction.
On December 09 2018, he allegedly died after episodes of cardiac arrest.
On December 10, a death certificate was issued by the local municipality as well as a “no objection certificate” from the police to return the body to Nova Scotia.
However, his death certificate has the incorrect spelling of his name.
This fuelled conspiracy theories that he faked his death.
The Hunt for the Crypto King: Is Gerry Cotten dead or alive?
There are many who doubt the details of Gerry Cotten’s death.
Suspicion crept in when it was revealed that Gerry Cotten put his will together just four days before his death.
His will left all of his assets to his wife, including $9million in real estate, a Lexus car, Cessna plane and 50-foot Jeanneau 51 sailboat.
Many of Gerry Cotten’s investors believe he is still alive.
They believe Gerry’s so-called ‘death’ has all the hallmarks of an “exit scam”.
Some have suggested that he faked his own death in order to defraud customers and flee with the funds himself.
Some have even called for his body to be exhumed so it can be proven once and for all whether he was the person buried.
In 2019, the court-appointed law firm representing the exchange’s former users sent a letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police asking that they exhume Cotten’s body to confirm his identity and verify a cause of death.
An investigation into everything that happened remains ongoing.
Who is Gerry Cotten’s wife and where is she now?
Jennifer Robertson, now 33, is a Canadian real estate developer.
She and Gerry Cotten got married in October 2018 after dating for several years.
Jennifer inherited millions of dollars in real estate holding after Gerry’s death.
She insists she was not involved in how her husband managed QuadrigaCX.
The widow has subsequently written a book called Bitcoin Widow: Love, Betrayal and the Missing Millions.
In it, she talks about her relationship with Gerry Cotten and the collapse of Quadriga.
She also describes how creditors who believed Gerry faked his own death hounded her with death threats.
Jennifer Robertson said that furious Quadriga users, unable to withdraw the funds they were owed, stalked her relentlessly.
They flooded her with death threats in phone calls, emails, and messages on social media to her and her family members.
She writes that she first met Gerry Cotten in 2014 while grappling with a messy divorce and working a part-time job as a waitress.
She says that she knew little about cryptocurrency, and had no idea that her husband was involved in fraudulent schemes before his death.
What has Gerry Cotten’s widow Jennifer Robertson said?
In her memoir, Jennifer says that she was shocked to learn of Gerry Cotten’s deceptions and fraudulent abuses of client funds.
She writes: “He’d set up fake accounts using fake names like ‘Aretwo Deetwo’ and ‘Seethree Peaohh’, filled the accounts with fake cryptocurrency, and then used that to make real trades, gambling that the value of crypto would increase and he would make money.
“It didn’t. Instead, the value fell and kept falling.”
She continued: “Gerry had lost at least $100million that Ernst and Young had been able to trace so far.
“Another $80million remained unaccounted for.
“Worse, Gerry had mixed Quadriga’s income with his own, using funds that belonged to Quadriga investors to finance his lifestyle.
“I won’t lie: I loved being rich.”
What is cryptocurrency or Bitcoin?
Some of us like to carry a ten bob in our pocket, others – like Queenie – don’t like to carry cash at all.
However, some prefer to use digital currency.
Cryptocurrency, sometimes called crypto-currency or crypto, is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions.
Cryptocurrencies don’t have a central issuing or regulating authority like a bank.
Instead they use a decentralised system to record transactions and issue new units.
Much like a bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currency created in 2009 that uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments.
Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King on Netflix
The latest true crime story to arrive on Netflix is a tale of cryptocurrency, death, and deceit…
The feature length film tries to uncover the truth behind Gerry Cotten’s demise, and with him the loss of millions from his crypton exchange company QuadrigaCX.
Does his wife, who says she was with her husband when he died, hold the key to getting all the lost money back?
The official synopsis for the documentary says: “A group of investors-turned-sleuths try to unlock the suspicious death of cryptocurrency multimillionaire Gerry Cotten and the missing $250 million they believe he stole from them.”
The film is 89 minutes long.
Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King streams from Wednesday March 30 2022 on Netflix.
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