Michael Patryn, co-founder of the troubled Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, has been identified as Omar Dhanani, a convicted fraudster with a lengthy criminal record, according to a Bloomberg investigation. Dhanani was sentenced to 18 months in a U.S. federal prison for identity theft linked to bank and credit card fraud, and was later deported to Canada.
A Man of Many Faces
Bloomberg obtained records confirming that Dhanani, now known as Patryn, changed his name twice — first to Omar Patryn in 2003 and then to Michael Patryn in 2008. In 2005, at age 22, Dhanani pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit credit and bank card fraud, and operated the now-defunct website shadowcrew.com, which trafficked in 1.5 million stolen credit and bank card numbers. In 2007, he confessed to additional unrelated crimes including burglary, grand larceny, and computer fraud. He served 18 months in prison and was subsequently deported to Canada, where he reinvented himself as a cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
Patryn co-founded QuadrigaCX in 2013 with the late Gerald Cotten. He now resides in Vietnam, describing himself as a “fintech advisor and portfolio manager,” and serves as founder and chairman of Canadian blockchain incubator Ventures Group (FVG). Patryn had previously attempted to hide his past, hiring a company to erase negative digital footprints. He denied being Omar Dhanani in a February interview with the Globe and Mail, distancing himself from his alleged criminal record.
Deepening Mystery of Quadriga's Collapse
Patryn reportedly left QuadrigaCX in 2016 over fundamental disagreements with CEO 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 latest revelations add another layer of intrigue to the saga that has captivated the cryptocurrency industry since the exchange's sudden closure in January. More than 115,000 customers have been left out in the cold, unsure whether they will recover their combined $190 million in cryptocurrency — assets previously believed to have been buried with Cotten. The company has been under court-approved creditor protection since February 5, with Ernst & Young acting as monitor. Investigations revealed that six of Quadriga's cold wallets had been empty long before Cotten's death. His widow claimed Cotten had been funding withdrawal requests from his own pocket due to banking troubles with the exchange's business accounts.