Quadriga co-founder targeted in unexplained wealth order [Video]

The British Columbia government has filed an unexplained wealth order in an effort to seize a quarter-million dollars in cash, as well as 45 gold bars and luxury jewelry from the operator of a fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange company.

B.C. Supreme Court documents show the items were discovered in a safety deposit box belonging to Michael Patryn, one of the co-founders of the Vancouver-based Quadriga Coin Exchange.

Fellow founder Gerald Cotton, 30, died suddenly while travelling in India in 2018, leaving platform users and investors unable to access an estimated $215 million in cash and cryptocurrency assets.

The company sought creditor protection and was placed into bankruptcy in 2019.

An investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission found the company operated like a Ponzi scheme, and concluded in a 2020 report that what happened at Quadriga “was an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology.”

Safety deposit box seized

In a statement Wednesday, B.C. Solicitor General Mike …