B.C. files unexplained wealth order after seizing gold, cash and jewelry from crypto co-founder
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 Farnworth announced that the province's civil forfeiture office had filed its third-ever unexplained wealth order, targeting Quadriga as a "demonstration of our government’s commitment to take decisive action against criminals and organized crime."
According to the notice of civil claim, Mounties seized the valuables from Patryn's safety deposit box located at a CIBC branch in downtown Vancouver in June 2021.
Inside the box, police found $250,200 in Canadian currency bound into five bundles held with elastic bands, gold bars from Canada and Australia, two Rolex Datejust watches, a Chanel J12 Black Diamond watch, a Baume & Mercier Men’s Classima Executive watch, as well as various pieces of jewelry, according to the claim.
A .45-calibre Ruger 1911 pistol, two magazines of ammunition and various pieces of identification under Patryn's name and his assumed names – Omar Dhanani and Omar Patryn – were also found, according to the claim.
Patryn responds to claim
Patryn was last known to be in Thailand and his occupation is not known, the claim states.
In his response to the claim filed last October, Patryn denies the items were the proceeds or instruments of unlawful activity.
He also alleges the police investigation "was conducted in such a manner" that breached his Charter rights.
Farnworth went on to note that thousands of people lost their life savings in the collapse of the Quadriga Coin Exchange.
"Gold bars may be highly liquid, and flashy luxury goods, such as jewelry and Rolex watches, attract attention, but they are also attracting the attention of police and our government," he said.
"If they are the proceeds of criminal activity like fraud, drug trafficking or money laundering, we will go after them."
It is estimated that more than 76,000 Quadriga clients – approximately 40 per cent of them in Ontario – were owed a combined $215 million when the company collapsed.
Ernst & Young, Quadriga's bankruptcy trustee, was only able to recover approximately $46 million in assets to pay out to clients.
The B.C. government filed its first unexplained wealth order late last year in an attempt to force a couple to explain how they purchased a $1.8-million property on Salt Spring Island in 2017.
With files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.