QuadrigaCX Co-Founder Was Involved In Criminal Activities In The Past

Michael Patryn, the co-founder of the controversial QuadrigaCX exchange was involved in the past in multiple criminal activities in the past according to reports that reached our crypto news today.

Patryn co-founded the now defunct Canadian crypto exchange together with Gerald Cotten in 2013. The reports show that Michael Patryn was initially known as Omar Dhanani or known to law enforcement to be involved in multiple crimes while living in the United States.

After the passing of the founder and CEO of Quadriga, nearly $145 million in clients’ crypto funds went missing from the exchange. Quadriga is now stuck in legal proceedings after controversial stories emerged in the news that the missing funds could be actually stolen. Ernst & Young were appointed as an independent auditor in order to monitor the creditor protection case. Cotten died of complications of Crohn’s disease.

Patryn left the exchange back in 2016 after he claimed to have a huge disagreement with Cotten over listing processes that were happening in the company. According to Canadian news outlets, Patryn and his partner Lovie Horner still remained as the two largest shareholders in QuadrigaCX despite leaving the company three years ago.

While of course, Patryn denied all allegations that he used to be Dhanani, reports from official government agencies from Canada show that he legally changed his name twice- in 2003 and 2008.

Dhanani was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he was arrested for identity theft and bank and credit card fraud in 2005. The 22-year-old Dhanani pleaded guilty for operating on shadowcrew.com which is now a non-operating marketplace that had 1.5 million stolen credit card numbers.

In 2007 Dhanani also pleaded guilty for multiple criminal cases including grand larceny, burglary, and computer fraud according to the California court records. Patryn later ‘’changed his life around’’ and claimed to be a Bitcoin entrepreneur after he got deported to Canada. He is now allegedly based in Vietnam and serves as a chairman at Fintech Ventures Group which is actually a Canada-based company. Patryn showed he had a lot of experience on his LinkedIn profile where it says that he had been working for QuadrigaCX for 13 years.