After Gerald Cotten passed away last December, the entire world around the Canada-based QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange unraveled. As its CEO, Cotten reportedly held the secret to vast stores of crypto holdings and users of the platform became increasingly concerned that they would never see their money again—millions potentially lost forever. There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding what is exactly happening with the exchange’s remnants, but Cotten’s wife, Jennifer Robertson, wants it to be clear that she has no knowledge of virtually anything related to the company’s operations.
Robertson has requested a court judge to appoint a restructuring specialist at the helm of the exchange. She holds a management role with the company now, and is concerned that this could be seen as a conflict of interest in light of the ongoing sage.
According to an affidavit (in pdf) presented to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, the widow wants Peter Wedlake, a retired partner and senior VP at the Grant Thornton audit firm, to become QuadrigaCX’s Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). This would allow Wedlake to grab the wheel and lead the exchange’s efforts to recover what is thought to be around $146 million in digital assets.
Robertson adds that neither she nor the only other QuadrigaCX officer, Tom Beazley, has “significant experience in the cryptocurrency industry” and that neither has “experience with an insolvent business.” She continues, “Further, the public attention my role as director has brought is unwanted, and online commentary which I have reviewed has suggested that I, in particular, am trying to hide assets or am acting contrary to the best interests of [QuadrigaCX and its affiliates], which is not true.”
QuadrigaCX is also seeking more time to try to find the missing funds. The company is requesting up to 60 more days, explaining, “This work in [sic] complicated by the lack of accessible business records of the Companies that one would expect to have on hand, and while significant efforts have been expended in the last three weeks much more needs to be done to try and maximize the recovery for the users.”
The saga is far from other, as more parties are thrown into the mix. Ernst & Young is already involved, as are a number of third-party payment processors. The Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal are included and the list keeps growing. With a little luck, all of the resources will be able to work together to resolve the issue and give QuadrigaCX users the relief they need and deserve.
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