According to statements made in the new report by the insolvency administrator Ernst & Young (EY), there are currently at least four different regulatory and law enforcement agencies investigating the case of the QuadrigaCX exchange.
George Kinsman, the bankruptcy administrator appointed by the EY court to oversee the case and the reimbursement of funds to the users, published a new report last Monday, sharing some information about EY’s ongoing efforts to recover fiat and cryptocurrencies for the creditors.
The document outlines the various investigations involving the exchange, as well as the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Currently, it appears that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the FBI and an Australian investigation agency are examining the case in question.
The report states that there are at least four agencies involved in the investigation, which have repeatedly made formal requests for documents and specific data, in order to continue with the investigation.
The QuadrigaCX exchange scandal broke out in early 2019, when owner Gerald Cotten, founder and sole employee of the trading platform, passed away.
Since he was the CEO and sole manager of the exchange, the passwords and private keys of the wallets were lost with his death. The estimated assets initially amounted to almost 30 thousand bitcoins, divided into at least ten different cryptocurrencies.Â
Since then, a series of investigations have begun, aimed at exposing the truth and trying to recover at least part of the funds of the customers.
QuadrigaCX investigations continue: from Nova Scotia to Toronto
For the past 8 months, several agencies have been investigating the matter and the recent report issued by Ernst & Young (EY) suggests that the investigation will continue for a long time.
Recently, in fact, Kinsman reported that EY is filing an application to transfer the bankruptcy process from the current Nova Scotia jurisdiction to Ontario.
He believes that this will significantly reduce the costs of the bankruptcy process and speed up the process.
“Given the above and the fact that the majority of the professionals expected to be involved with the court attendances are based in Toronto, the Trustee expects that it would be more cost-effective for future motions to be heard by a court in Toronto, eliminating the need for a significant number of professionals to incur costs to travel from Toronto to Halifax”.
Most of the users’ lawyers and most of the creditors are located near Toronto, so it would be much easier for individuals to attend the hearings, Kinsman said.
In addition, EY is also handling the bureaucracy with a large part of its Toronto team.
Regardless of the change of jurisdiction, EY will have to continue to manage the ongoing complaint process, as well as raise funds through the sale of certain assets belonging to Cotten’s wealth.
