A Bloomberg investigation has revealed that QuadrigaCX co-founder Michael Patryn is actually a convicted criminal who previously operated under the name Omar Dhanani, adding a new layer of intrigue to the already mysterious collapse of the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange. Dhanani was sentenced to 18 months in a U.S. federal prison for identity theft linked to bank and credit card fraud, and later deported to Canada.
A Man of Many Faces
According to records obtained by Bloomberg, Dhanani, now known as Patryn, changed his name twice—in 2003 and 2008. In March 2003, he legally changed his name from Omar Dhanani to Omar Patryn with the British Columbia government. Five years later, in 2008, he registered a new name, becoming Michael Patryn in the same Canadian province. The entrepreneur allegedly tried to hide his past by hiring a company to purge negative digital footprints that might soil his reputation.
In the United States, Dhanani pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit credit and bank card fraud in 2005, when he was just 22 years old. He operated a now-defunct website called shadowcrew.com, which peddled 1.5 million stolen credit and bank card numbers. In 2007, he confessed to numerous unrelated crimes including burglary, grand larceny, and computer fraud. He served 18 months in prison for some of his criminal cases before being deported to Canada.
Reinvention in Crypto and Quadriga's Collapse
After deportation, Dhanani reinvented himself as Michael Patryn and co-founded the troubled Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX with the late Gerald Cotten in 2013. Patryn reportedly left QuadrigaCX in 2016 over fundamental disagreements with Cotten regarding the company's plans to go public. "On the day of our disagreement, I left the company and ceased being privy to operational decisions," Patryn told Bloomberg in an email. "Since that time, I have not been involved in the operations or management of any of the Quadriga companies."
The revelations deepen the mystery surrounding QuadrigaCX, which suddenly ceased operations in January 2019, leaving more than 115,000 customers unable to access their funds. The combined $190 million in cryptocurrency is believed to be lost, with some suggesting it was buried with Cotten after his death. The company has been under court-approved creditor protection since February 5, with Ernst & Young acting as monitor. Auditors discovered that six of Quadriga's cold wallets had been empty long before Cotten's death. Cotten's widow claimed he had been funding withdrawal requests from his own pocket due to banking troubles involving the exchange's business accounts.
Patryn, who now resides in Vietnam, describes himself as a "fintech advisor and portfolio manager" and serves as founder and chairman of Canadian blockchain incubator Ventures Group (FVG). He has previously denied being Omar Dhanani, according to a Globe and Mail article published in February, and distanced himself from his alleged criminal record. The Bloomberg report confirms the man's criminal past through official records, though Patryn refused to comment on the matter.