I faced death threats after my Bitcoin millionaire husband died – investors think he's faked it taking fortune with him

THE widow of a Bitcoin millionaire has told how conspiracy nuts threaten to maim and torture her as they believe her husband faked his death.

Gerald Cotton died aged 30 – leaving thousands of investors locked out of more than £105 million in cryptocurrency – and his wife, Jennifer Robertson, is now the target of scores of angry conspiracy theorists who accuse her of being in on the "scam".


In the years since his death from complications with Crohn's Disease in 2019, it has been revealed Cotton was in crippling debt, with huge holes in his company, Quadriga CX's, accounts.

Cotton, from Canada, had also died suddenly during his and Jennifer's honeymoon to India – just four days after he agreed to leave his entire fortune to his wife.

The company – which he founded – kept his death secret for a month before it was forced to declare bankruptcy as Jennifer revealed the only person with the passwords to access the accounts, was her husband.

Canada's financial regulator ruled Quadriga CX's collapse was due to a Ponzi scheme – with Cotten at the middle.

The regulator said Cotten had siphoned off assets for his own personal use and fund his lavish lifestyle.

Included in the report from the body was an image of huge wads of cash stacked up in his home.

In the years since, conspiracy theorists have latched onto the unusual circumstances surrounding the company's collapse, and Cotten's death, whipping up a frenzy of tales about how entrepreneur faked his death and made off with the cryptocurrency.

To add fuel to the fire, in Cotten's death certificate, issued in India, had a spelling mistake in his name – which led to wild theories it was a forged document.

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In her new book, an excerpt of which was published by The Walrus, Jennifer, 34, told how some of the conspiracists targeted her and her family, threatening them with violent deaths and torture.

She wrote: "I should not have been surprised, I suppose, that the story of Quadriga's missing millions would generate a media feeding frenzy.

"But I was still shocked to be targeted as someone who should be tortured and then murdered in various horrific ways.

"I know some were just venting, but others seemed deadly serious."

She added: "Our money or violence your choice jen,' one wrote. Another wrote: 'I'm going to take one for the team and kill Jen'."

One crazed user described how the 34-year-old "deserved to be waterboarded for hours, then crucified".

Others threatened to kill her dad and even her pet dogs.

Jennifer said she became so terrified by the threats she couldn't even venture outside.

And she explained how she heartbreakingly learned of Cotten's misdeeds at the same time as the rest of the world did.

She said: "Thanks to the posse of reporters, Quadriga creditors, and conspiracy theorists rummaging through the closets of Gerry's past, I soon began to learn all sorts of things I hadn't known, and some I hadn't wanted to know, about Gerald Cotten.

"I tried to square the benign man I had known and loved—the smartest, funniest, kindest person I'd ever met, a man who had taught me so much, the only man I'd ever known who offered me unconditional love, who made me feel like his number-one person always—with the shady scam artist described in the media reports,' wrote Robertson."

And Jennifer, who met Cotten while working part-time as a waitress and during a messy divorce, also writes that she "loved" being rich.

She also admits that she knew little about Crypto or the way the business worked, and didn't think she needed to.

She said that not having to question whether she could afford something was a thrill, adding: "We could buy a house in Nova Scotia, another in British Columbia, even our own island with a yacht—not just a sailboat—to get us there. We could travel to exotic places."

But she explains that she was horrified to learn Cotten had been using dodgy funds to buy her treats and holidays and top up their lavish lifestyle.

As his will stated, Jennifer was lumped with Cotton's share of Quadriga CX and became embroiled in the tricky legal battle that followed his death.

She reached a settlement to keep pennies on the dollar of her claimed assets, handing the rest over to creditors.

Jennifer adds: "It took me longer than many others to appreciate the extent of Gerry's deceit. Like much of the rest of the world, I learned about Gerry's fraud incrementally,' Robertson wrote.

"It morphed, at first slowly and then suddenly, into a torrent of doubt that became an inexorable flood of accusation and, finally, a tidal wave of irrefutable evidence that almost swallowed me whole."

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