Crypto CEO Gerald Cotten died in India holding the only keys to C$215 million, and regulators found the money was already gone

Gerald Cotten ran QuadrigaCX, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange. On 27 November 2018 he signed a will leaving C$9.6 million to his wife, Jennifer Robertson, and C$100,000 in trust for his two chihuahuas. Twelve days later he died in Jaipur, India, aged 30; his widow said the cause was complications of Crohn's disease. The company said only Cotten had held the keys to its reserves. In February 2019 a Nova Scotia court granted creditor protection, and in April 2019 Quadriga went bankrupt. In June 2020 the Ontario Securities Commission reported that more than 76,000 clients were owed C$215 million. It found that about C$115 million was lost through fraudulent trading in accounts under false names and C$28 million on outside platforms, and that Quadriga "operated like a Ponzi scheme." It rejected the idea that his death had locked away the funds. In October 2019 Robertson agreed to surrender about C$12 million, keeping about C$90,000 and a 2015 Jeep. In December 2019 lawyers for the users asked the RCMP to exhume his body to confirm his death; no exhumation has been reported. In March 2023 creditors received a first interim payment of 13 cents on the dollar, about C$40 million on C$303.1 million of claims from 17,648 creditors. In 2026 no final payment has been reported^†.