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A clearer picture is emerging of the young man at the centre of the mysterious demise of one of Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

Gerald Cotten, a Nova Scotia resident originally from Ontario, was 30 when he died suddenly while travelling in India on Dec. 9 — leaving his virtual company, QuadrigaCX, without access to $180 million in Bitcoins and other digital assets.

His widow, Jennifer Robertson, has said in court documents that Cotten was the only person with access to his laptop, which is thought to contain the digital keys to the so-called cold wallets containing the missing cryptocurrency.

The circumstances surrounding Cotten’s death — and the way he conducted his business from the couple’s home in Fall River — has led to a flurry of speculation and allegations in internet chat rooms, with some former QuadrigaCX users coming forward to raise questions about the $250 million in cash and cryptocurrency owed to 115,000 of them.

Cotten signed his will on Nov. 27, 2018 — less than two weeks before he died at a private hospital in Jaipur, the capital and largest city in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.

In an application to probate the will, filed on Dec. 21, 2018, Robertson confirmed that the gross value of Cotten’s personal property — all of which was left to her — was $9.6 million. She was granted the right to administer his estate as executor on Jan. 2.

The will specifically states that Robertson was authorized to access his digital assets and “obtain, access, modify, delete and control (his) passwords and other electronic credentials.”

Gerry Cotten. - Facebook

Robertson, in an affidavit filed Jan. 31, said she was not involved in the business, and she insisted Cotten — as QuadrigaCX’s CEO and sole director — was the only person with access to the private digital keys.

The will includes a few details about Cotten’s assets, but those items are limited to a section dealing with property that would have been bequeathed to friends and relatives should Robertson die within 30 days of his death.

The list includes a 2017 Lexus, an “airplane, a 2015 Mini Cooper and a 50-foot Jeanneau 51 sailboat.

Documents obtained through the Nova Scotia Property Online database show there are four properties formerly belonging to Robertson and Cotten worth a total of $1.1 million in Nova Scotia. The four properties were all purchased by Cotten and Robertson between 2016 and 2018 and include a large house on 71 Kinross Ct. in Fall River — which is listed as Robertson’s primary address — as well as several swatches of land: one in Fall River and and two in Lunenburg County.

The documents show that in a few days at the end of January, Robertson took her deceased husband’s name from the ownership of the four properties and took out collateral mortgages on all four in favour of a trust called The Seaglass Trust where she is a trustee. She then transferred ownership of at least two of those properties to that trust.

Lawyers told The Chronicle Herald the moves were unusual, and likely done in an attempt to protect Robertson’s assets from future creditors.

An additional 12 properties in the Halifax metro area worth more than $6 million — also purchased between 2016 and 2018 — are listed as belonging to Robertson Nova Property Inc. According to Nova Scotia’s Registry of Joint Stock Companies, Robertson is the director, president and recognized agent of Robertson Nova Property Inc. and Robertson’s Kinross Court address is listed under the company’s contact information.

Not much is known about Robertson outside of what’s come out in court documents regarding her relation to the Quadriga case, but it seems she has changed her name at least three times. A Nova Scotia Royal Gazette entry from 2017 shows that she changed her name from Jennifer Griffith to Jennifer Robertson in late 2016. The short entry also says she was born in Halifax in 1988, making her the same age as Cotten. Legal property documents also list her as formerly Jennifer Forgeron, but it’s not clear when that name change occurred.

The circumstances surrounding the case has led to speculation that Cotten may have faked his own death, but a copy of his death certificate is available through the statistical directorate in Rajasthan, the state of India where he died, and Fortis Escorts Hospital in Jaipur has also since released a statement confirming the details of his death due to complications of Crohn’s disease.

Additionally, The Chronicle Herald has obtained a document from the Jawahar Circle Police Station in Jaipur granting Robertson permission to take Cotten’s remains to Canada. The document, which is originally written in Hindi, says the police confirmed with the chief medical officer at the hospital that he died there while receiving treatment on Dec. 9, and since there was no pending cases against the deceased, the family was allowed to transport the remains.

It’s not clear what happened to Cotten’s remains after they were returned to Canada. J.A. Snow Funeral Home in Halifax, which issued a Statement of Death for Cotten, has opted not to speak to media in order to protect the family’s privacy.

In her affidavit, Robertson says she has been subjected to online threats, slanderous comments and speculation about Cotten’s death, “including whether he is really dead.”

Robertson said Cotten was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of 24, about a year after he co-founded QuadrigaCX with his partner Mike Patryn.

She said Cotten died from complications linked to the disease, which disrupts digestion by causing inflammation of the bowels.

Meanwhile, industry critics have come forward to say the QuadrigaCX debacle has proven to be a major embarrassment for Canada’s cryptocurrency industry, which includes more than a dozen exchanges across the country.

Some industry insiders have said provincial and federal officials should move quickly to do something about a business that is largely unregulated and has no independent oversight.

With files from The Canadian Press

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