When the CEO of one of Canada鈥檚 then-largest cryptocurrency exchanges QuadrigaCX suddenly died in India back in 2019, his wife Jennifer Robertson鈥檚 life fell apart, according to her new book.
Speaking on CTV鈥檚 Your Morning Tuesday, Robertson said the aftermath of her husband Gerald Cotten鈥檚 sudden death from complications of Crohn鈥檚 disease has haunted her, after it quickly became clear that the millions of dollars worth of investors鈥� cryptocurrency her husband handled were locked away in offshore bitcoin wallets that only he had the passwords for.
What followed were allegations of her husband faking his death, that she was somehow involved in what was described as a Ponzi scheme, and questions about her naiveté regarding her husband鈥檚 business and their previously lavish lifestyle.
Now she is telling her side of the story.
鈥淚 decided to write this book because I wanted to be able to have a platform where I could say exactly what I wanted to say, and the media wouldn鈥檛 be able to twist it,鈥� Robertson said of 鈥楤itcoin widow: Love, Betrayal & The Missing Millions.鈥� 鈥淚 also had a lot of grief and things I had to work through so I had to make sure that I was ready to write the book and have it be published.鈥�
Robertson said that her new book is very clear about her mental health struggles in the hopes that her experiences will help others 鈥済oing through something difficult鈥� make a turnaround.
When asked how she felt about investors turning to her for answers about their millions disappearing with her husband鈥檚 death, Robertson said she felt 鈥渧ery betrayed鈥� by him.
鈥淗e had mentioned that if anything were to happen to him, there would be this 鈥榙ead man switch鈥� which would provide me with all of his financial information or his parents might have got it, he said 鈥� and then it never came,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t threw us and Quadriga into absolute chaos, he affected so many lives and he hurt so many people.鈥�
Robertson said dealing with the conspiracy theories about her have been 鈥渄ifficult.鈥�
鈥淚 saw him die, I brought his body back to Halifax with me from India and there have been numerous people who have seen his body, including his mother and his father,鈥� she continued. 鈥淚 so badly wanted Gerry to obviously be alive, one because he is my husband and two because he could sort this all out or provide answers, so when the world is screaming 鈥榟e鈥檚 still alive,鈥� and you know that he鈥檚 not, it can be difficult to deal with that when you鈥檙e grieving.鈥�
Speaking about when the Ontario Securities Commission determined that Cotten was basically and Robertson was forced to hand over the majority of the assets left to her in her husband鈥檚 will, which was signed two weeks before his death, Robertson said she lost her home but just 鈥渉ad to keep pushing forward.鈥�
She eventually went back to school and fell in love with teaching, she said, and is looking forward to 鈥渁 new chapter鈥� in her life, telling Your Morning that she is now in the third trimester of pregnancy.
But some things are hard to forget.
鈥淚 think the most misunderstood part of everything that happened was that I had something to do with Gerry鈥檚 disappearance or Gerry鈥檚 death, or that I hadn鈥檛 cared about the investors, which is absolutely not true,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚 tried to do everything that I could to the users 鈥� I gave access to all of Gerry鈥檚 laptops, all our personal conversations, everything I could do.鈥�
Robertson said she never suspected anything in all those years with Cotten.
