It was reported that the FBI, in collaboration with the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are looking into the shutdown of the exchange.
QuadrigaCX lost access to $145 million worth of cryptocurrency of user funds after its founder and CEO Gerald Cotten suddenly died. This resulted in 115,000 users unable the get their funds back, with one of the users sustaining a loss worth $420,000 of life savings.
This ultimately led Quadriga Fintech Solutions, the company operating the exchange, to file for bankruptcy in Canada. The FBI began questioning users if they submitted ID information when they opened their account on the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange and if their transactions were processed by financial institutions based in the US.
The website of the agency posted the following:
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section are conducting an ongoing investigation.
If you have questions or concerns about your QuadrigaCX account, or if you believe you are a victim, please complete the below questionnaire. Your responses are voluntary but would be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information.
The FBI and IRS-CI are legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes that they investigate and provide these victims with information, assistance services, and resources.”
The Ontario Securities Commission announced that it was investigating QuadrigaCX’s fund situation, as many Ontario investors lost their crypto in the ordeal. The regulator stated that it was in contact with the appointed liquidator and monitor Ernst & Young.
The monitor also succeeded in identifying a number of cold storage wallets used by QuadrigaCX, discovering that five out of six wallets were empty since April of last year, with one having one accidental deposit this year.