How About This Crypto Bro Who Allegedly Faked His Own Death And Ran Off With $250 Million Dollars

Gerald Cotten was too good to be true. He had thick sweeps of strawberry-blond hair, boyish enthusiasm and the kind of sunny disposition that made people want to be around him.

When the 30-year-old died — unexpectedly and mysteriously — in 2018, some $250 million worth of Canadian cash and cryptocurrency also went missing. Around 75,000 customers of Cotten’s QuadrigaCX crypto exchange suddenly lost fortunes they had earmarked for everything from tuition to retirement funds, life savings and mortgages.

Cotten now stands accused of perpetrating an ultra-modern Ponzi scheme, powered by technology and 21st century cunning. And some investors are suspicious that he may have faked his own death.

This guy has cracked the ponzi scheme code. Bloc chain so nobody can trace your money and then boom, just fake your own death and find a new identity with a Scrooge McDuck pile of digital coins. This guy vanished into shallow fake grave almost three years ago and people are still speculating where he is. This guy is Leo in Catch Me If You Can except...nobody can. There is no Tom Hanks. This dude is probably living in the Caribbean and has masked his identity with a slightly better tan than he had in Canada. The craziest thing about this story is that he ACTUALLY is just like Frank Abignale Jr because he's been running scams since before he could drive

At 15 years old, Cotten put his first pyramid scheme into motion. According to Vanity Fair, it was dubbed S&S Investments and promised returns of up to 150 percent in just 48 hours. The sham ran for three months before shutting down with investors’ money disappearing.

By the time Cotten and Patryn launched their company, Quadriga — promoting it as a cheap and easy way for people to buy, sell and trade crypto at a time when it was an ordeal for the uninitiated — in 2014, they were already well versed in the dark arts.

Typically I am firmly against fucking people out of their investments, but at some point you have to acknowledge a guy achieving his life goal. He was always scamming people and after 15 years of practice, Cotten just achieved his life's ambition. He stole enough to disappear forever with an elaborate fake death scheme. His greatest scheme of all. Incredible. This is what happens when you refine your craft. When you're the best at something you get to be a millionaire. Doesn't even matter what it is. Fuck this guy, but congratulations.