After investing all of his life savings with a cryptocurrency dealer who died in 2018, a man recounted how he lost everything.
Tong Zuo recalled investing his money in Quadriga CX and entrusting the cash to Gerald William Cotten, the company’s CEO and founder, who had password access to all of his clients’ accounts.
The total amount of money held in Quadriga’s accounts is estimated to be $250 million, and Cotten’s death resulted in 76,000 investors losing their money.
When Zuo relocated from the United States to Vancouver, Canada, he stated he received most of the money from his parents and invested in cryptocurrency to avoid bank fees.
The now-defunct Canadian firm alleges that a legal dispute with a bank is preventing payments from being distributed.
“I kept asking, ‘Where did my money go?'” – Throughout the months of October, November, and December. They kept claiming it was because of the litigation. I was unable to sleep. I had just finished praying. I was hoping it wasn’t a ruse. There was nothing I could do at the time. I couldn’t get my money back because there was no mechanism to do so. “It was virtually gone once I deposited it,” Zuo remarked.
Jennifer Robertson, Cotten’s wife, claims he promised to set up a system that would provide her access to the passwords after he died, but she never received them.
The Netflix documentary “Trust No One: The Hunt For The Crypto King” features Zuo’s story and others.