Quadriga co-founder served time in U.S. prison for role in identity-theft ring, documents reveal

By Joe Castaldo and Alexandra Posadzki

The co-founder of troubled cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX is a convicted felon who served time in the United States for his role in an online identity-theft ring.

Michael Patryn helped launch Quadriga’s trading platform in 2013 alongside Gerald Cotten. The company has come under intense scrutiny since Mr. Cotten, its chief executive, died at the age of 30 from complications of Crohn’s disease while on his honeymoon in India last December, leaving the exchange’s users unable to access $250-million in cash and cryptocurrency.

Mr. Patryn has denied that he lived in the United States more than a decade ago under the name Omar Dhanani, a California resident who pleaded guilty in 2005 to one count of conspiracy to transfer identification documents. At the time, Mr. Dhanani was a member of an online marketplace called Shadowcrew.com that trafficked in stolen credit card numbers and identities.

However, The Globe and Mail has uncovered numerous documents – including two booking photos of Mr. Dhanani obtained through a public records request from the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department in New Jersey – linking the two names.

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Published by the Globe and Mail.