With input from multiple affected users, we've put together a draft letter:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Commercial Crimes (White Collar) Branch
RCMP National Headquarters
Headquarters Building
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0R2
I'm writing to you today as the founder of a group representing affected users of the fraud perpetrated by QuadrigaCX to call for the exhumation of Gerald Cotten’s body. The group, named Quadriga Initiative, was created to represent the tens of thousands of Canadians who have had their future, hopes, and dreams significantly impacted by a criminal act which was perpetrated over more than half a decade and as of today, has occurred without justice being served. These are our neighbours, friends, and families. What happened to them was not right.
Victims include Tong Zhou, who worked for several years in Silicon Valley, and the result of this senseless act took most of his life savings - leaving him without an apartment. They also include John Matthews, whose parents and him had their savings wiped out. His parents were left with their entire retirement ruined, suffering in ill health. My story can’t compare with these - but I did lose significantly. In all, hundreds of millions of dollars were fraudulently stolen from Canadians.
According to the recently released report from the Ontario Securities Commission, Gerald Cotten was “in effect, operating a Ponzi scheme” which “most likely would have collapsed”. And it was collapsing. The entire administrative team had left in 2016. CIBC had frozen millions of dollars in funds in 2018. By the end of 2018, unprocessed client withdrawals were building up against nearly empty reserves, and lawsuits were in progress across the nation. Gerald Cotten owed Canadians hundreds of millions of dollars and had few options available to him.
Gerald Cotten traveled extensively, to at least 56 countries globally (according to his own estimate), and never saw fit to write a will until just 4 days before the final India trip. Gerald Cotten was not known for philanthropy, and yet he chose the final India trip to visit an orphanage that didn’t need his visit. The gastroenterologist called his case “medically unusual”, and stated that he was “not sure about the diagnosis”. Despite the rapid and sudden deterioration in an isolated room of a hospital, Gerald Cotten’s body eventually came from his hotel, and was only embalmed by students from a local medical college. No autopsy or even cremation were performed, the funeral and burial were closed-casket, and the events were left unmentioned to users of the platform for over a month.
In a CBC radio podcast in 2015, Australian Chris Rock describes just how many holes exist in the birth and death registries across the globe, and in the 2017 book “Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud”, Elizabeth Greenwood described her experience faking her own death. In a 2013 video “How To Get A Fake Doctor's Note In India”, part of “Scam City” on “Travel and Escape”, reporter Conor recorded his experience purchasing a fake note from an Indian doctor with an MB himself for just $80, and a 2018 news report shows the arrest of dozens in India involved in a fake birth and death certificate scandal. Given the evidence, we should not assume the international death registry system is foolproof and that a sufficiently motivated individual couldn’t fake their own death. Multiple parties throughout the community have expressed doubt on the legitimacy of Gerald Cotten’s death, ranging from Miller Thompson officially requesting exhumation due to “questionable circumstances” to Jesse Powell, CEO of leading North American exchange Kraken calling the death “bizarre and, frankly, unbelievable”.
As the RCMP, you have a responsibility to Canadians to serve and protect. Canadians have entrusted you with incredible power and responsibility. You have an opportunity here to bring justice and show the effectiveness of the law for all Canadians. While this case may seem intimidating because it deals with new technology, the underlying mechanisms are incredibly simple and straightforward, and the recent reporting by the Ontario Securities Commission should leave no doubt that a serious criminal fraud has been committed here.
Victims deserve to know what happened, Gerald Cotten needs to be held to account, and Canadians deserve to know that their justice system is solid, that criminals cannot escape the law by fraudulently faking their death. Please conduct an exhumation of Gerald Cotten’s body so that we can all have answers.
Below are relevant sources:
Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud - Elizabeth Greenwood
Indian Police Arresting a Fake Death Gang As Recently As 2018
CEO Who Held $150M in Crypto Died in a Region Known for Having a Fake Death Mafia - NewsBTC
Indian death certificate scams fuel skepticism around QuadrigaCX CEO’s death - The Chronicle Herald
Regardless of what actually happened, I believe fundamentally that we deserve to know the truth. The job of law enforcement is to find that truth.
The RCMP has continued to ignore the voices of affected users who want justice and answers since the beginning. Bill Blair has refused to get involved. Even a letter from Miller Thompson has brought no action. The OSC states the death as though it's a fact.
But this is not the job of Bill Blair or Miller Thompson or the OSC. This is the job of the RCMP to investigate fully and they are not doing their job.
If they had any plan to confirm the death, they would have done it already.
There may be a process whereby we could get a judge to overrule the RCMP. Explain to me how - if the RCMP aren't convinced - a judge will be? Explain to me how the judge is supposed to assess us, creditors with some theory, to a higher credibility than the RCMP performing the investigation? And explain to me why it's fair or right for affected users to have to bear thousands of dollars in legal fees out of their own pocket to push for merely knowing the answer.
There is a parliamentary petition option. Canadian citizens can put forward a petition and 500 signatures is enough to have a hearing in parliament. So let's say we do this. Let's even say that we manage to get some sympathetic ear of some politician, maybe even many. What are we asking them to do? Overrule the RCMP process? Interfere in an ongoing investigation? Do you have any idea the amount of trouble politicians can get in for this sort of thing?
But there is a third option. It's much more practical, doesn't require 500 participants, doesn't require expensive lawyers, doesn't put any politician at risk. It takes time, but the estimated cost is less than $2k, spread amongst all of us and not going to any lawyers or accountants.
Let's call it the Shawshank Redemption approach. For those unfamiliar with the story, Andy Dufresne is wrongly convicted of murder and spends 19 years building up an ultimate escape in an iconic rain scene. There is a powerful substory where he builds up the prison library.
How does he do it, when the prison has no funds, and the state refuses to provide any?
Letters. But not just one letter. One letter, every week. For 6 years. It takes 312 letters.
He gets $200 and some old books donated.
But he doesn't stop writing. Instead, he writes 2 letters per week.
Three years later, permanent funding is put in place for the library.
"It was just a matter of wearing down the people in power and proving to them that his will was stronger than theirs.". You can watch the relevant scenes of The Shawshank Redemption here.
While this is a movie, the truth of persistence with a consistent message is very relevant. Most authority figures have very limited time to consider an opinion they've only heard once.
Most people believe that the RCMP would not listen if they wrote a letter - and they're right. As big as Quadriga is, it's only a portion of the fraud happening in this country every year. The RCMP can't be bothered to double check a death, unless we make them bothered. My estimate - it would take a dozen letters to be heard, a hundred to get a real response, and somewhere over a thousand for an investigation. But it might be less from children or seniors, from parents, teachers, veterans.
Andy Dufresne was a convicted murderer. His wife and family were gone from his life. Nobody on the outside had heard his story or cared.
We are a powerful community - across the country and around the world. We can be heard if we choose to make ourselves heard.
We are calling on affected users and supporters in the community to send one letter per week to the RCMP until they perform an exhumation of Gerald Cotten's body.
It's true that you can also email or call the RCMP, but keep in mind this is an organization that was founded in 1873. Back then, even the map of Canada looked very different. You can rest assured that the individuals in charge of this decision will be much more familiar with letters than email. It's important that they know there are real people who want to see this investigation happen. Physical letters can be brought to their attention and "stack up" in a way that emails or phone calls will never be able to.
How to participate:
Write your letters. You can find templates and example letters on our website here. It's best to write your own personal letters and not just take the templates. Try to tell a compelling story and include solid evidence from sources above. Hand written letters are even more personal. Keep letters short. It could take up to an hour to prepare a proper batch of letters.
Purchase stamps from your local post office if you don't have any. The cost for stamps of a standard letter is as low as $0.92 if you live in Canada already or $1.20 from the US. Canadians can find your local post office here. Check options to purchase in bulk and save money.
Assemble each letter into an envelope with a stamp, addressed to the RCMP. Their address is below. Build into your weekly routine to drop off one letter in the mailbox each and every week - and keep to it every week until we win this fight.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Commercial Crimes (White Collar) Branch
RCMP National Headquarters
Headquarters Building
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0R2
