Authorities from British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province, are going after Michael Patryn, a co-founder of the failed QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange, according to a report by the Vancouver Sun.
B.C. has filed an unexplained wealth order in order to compel Patryn to reveal the source of his allegedly corrupt assets. This is an attempt to seize and dispose of the wealth that was acquired unlawfully.
The province introduced unexplained wealth orders last year in order to fight against money laundering. Such orders also exist in the UK, New Zealand, and Ireland.
The authorities allege that Patryn’s cash, gold bars, expensive watches, and jewelry are related to the QuadrigaCX scam. Prior to that, Patryn denied these allegations.
As reported by U.Today, QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotton died from Crohn’s disease in India in late 2018, taking the password to the exchange’s cold wallets with $190 million worth of crypto to his grave.
It later turned out that Cotton was running a scam, with accounting firm Ernst & Young revealing that he was actually transferring funds from customer accounts to other trading platforms in order to enrich himself.
There were some conspiracy theories about whether or not Cotton actually died: the Rajasthan state is known for issuing fake death certificates.
The mysterious death of the Canadian crypto king even inspired Netflix to release a true crime documentary about the QuadrigaCX case.
In late 2022, a mysterious transfer of 100 Bitcoins from the exchange’s cold wallet puzzled the community.
Last year, EY announced that it would start interim distribution to some QuadrigaCX customers.
