When you think things can’t get any worse, they usually do. Now, 115.000 QuadrigaCX crypto investors, who trusted QuadrigaCX fintech solutions with their hard-earned money, are still waiting with empty hands for their money back or at least for some answers. Unfortunately, as the QuadrigaCX case unfolds it seems that things are getting shadier than ever. It seems that one of the co-founders have a dark past he was trying to hide by changing his name and hiring IT experts to purge his questionable past. Omar Dhanani, now known as Michael Patryn used to be a known con-artist in the US. American authorities charged and arrested him for trying to pull up numerous scams. These scams include credit-fraud, identity theft, and burglary.

Who is Michael Patryn aka “Omar Dhanani”?

Long before Michael Patryn helped Gerald Cotton to create the Canadian fintech startup, QuadrigaCX. He used to be a well-known criminal in the US, for all kinds of scams. At the age of 22 in 2005, he was guilty of credit-and-bank card fraud. Then in 2007, he was again charged with more crimes, this time for burglary, grand larceny and computer fraud according to public criminal records in the state of California. Lastly, before US authorities deported him back to his country of birth, Canada, he served 18 months in a US federal prison for his numerous identity theft, bank and credit card frauds.

Two name changes between 2003 and in 2008

Knowing that his dubious past might be a handicap for any of his future dreams and goals. Omar Dhanani decided to hide his past and rebuild his identity and personality. An attempt to sell his new image of an entrepreneur with plans of making big in the cryptocurrency exchange world.

Documents obtained by Bloomberg News show that he legally requested to change his name twice between 2003 and 2008. In March 2003 Mr.Patryn changed his name from Omar Dhanani to Omar Patryn. Fast forwarding to five years later he then changed his name again, this time to Michael Patryn, all his name changes were done in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Conflict with Gerald Cotten

Gerald Cotton and Omar Khanani became fond of each other, after working together at a nonprofit crypto organization in Vancouver. Then, they decided to establish their own cryptocurrency exchange company. Soon enough, QuadrigaCX was founded and it became one of Canada’s first crypto exchange services. Unfortunately, a few years after the creation of QuadrigaCX their friendship and camaraderie started to crumble. According to Patryn, he decided to depart from QuadrigaCX in 2016 after a “fundamental disagreement with Cotten on his decision to put on hold the listing process for QuadrigaCX”.

What does this mean for the QuadrigaCX mystery?

The revelation of one of the co-founders being involved in various scams only helps to deliver a fatal final blow to QuadrigaCX and any chance the company may have had to clean up its name. As we get to the closure of this story, the rumors and theories may be true after all. As the crypto community suspected, it looks like the fintech startup was a well–planned scam for an easy “buck” all this time. There is still a chance of the corporation still coming clean. That is if they ever find and give the money of their loyal customers back.

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