British Columbia Seizes Over $1M in Assets Linked to QuadrigaCX Co-Founder Michael Patryn
British Columbia has secured a forfeiture under its unexplained wealth order regime, seizing more than $1 million in cash, gold, and luxury items tied to Michael Patryn, co-founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX.
The seized items included 45 gold bars—comprising 3 one-kilogram bars and 42 smaller bars—Rolex and Chanel watches, rings, jewelry, identification documents, and a loaded Ruger 1911 .45-caliber pistol found in Patryn's Vancouver safety deposit box in 2021. The gold alone is valued at over $800,000, with total assets exceeding $1 million. Approximately $250,000 in cash had been originally seized during a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation.
Civil forfeiture offices allege the assets were purchased using QuadrigaCX customer funds that were misappropriated prior to the exchange's collapse. The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the forfeiture after Patryn did not contest the order, enabling liquidation of the seized assets.
This case represents one of British Columbia's most significant applications of anti-money laundering tools to enforce unexplained wealth orders.
QuadrigaCX collapsed in 2019 following the death of CEO Gerald Cotten in India. Regulators concluded that customer assets worth around $169 million were missing and described the platform as Ponzi-like by 2016.
Michael Patryn, also known as Omar Dhanani, has a prior US conviction from 2005 for operating an online identity-theft and money-laundering service and was subsequently deported to Canada.
