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Ernst & Young: Don’t Restructure QuadrigaCX, File Bankruptcy Instead

| 05-Th4-2019
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Ernst & Young: Don’t Restructure QuadrigaCX, File Bankruptcy Instead

The court-appointed monitor for embattled crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, Ernst & Young (EY), has come forth to say that the exchange should be placed in bankruptcy instead of being restructured as originally planned.

The Big 4 audit firm proposed this in delivering its “Fourth Report of the Monitor” to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Canada on April . It stated that QuadrigaCX’s protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) should be transitioned into proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA).

Since its appointment in February this year after QuadrigaCX filed for creditor protection, EY has been working to find and recover QuadrigaCX’s missing or frozen millions after the sudden death of founder Gerald Cotten in December last year. He was the only person who had access to the exchange wallets’ keys that secured the bulk of QuadrigaCX’s assets. As a result, $198.4 million is owed to some 115,000 users to date.

“Given the present circumstances, the possibility that Quadriga will restructure and emerge from CCAA protection appears remote. The ongoing investigation to locate and recover assets for distribution to creditors with the intent of optimizing recoveries for the Applicants’ stakeholders can be efficiently administered in a proceeding under the BIA”, EY writes in its report update.

Furthermore, with BIA, EY will be able to take on “enhanced investigative powers” as trustee-in-bankruptcy for QuadrigaCX. In an expanded capacity, EY will be able to address governance issues directly, and remove need of currently having a Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). Ey will also be able to provide process updates directly to affected users instead of needing to make formal updates to the court.

Peter Wedlake, senior vice president at Grant Thornton, had just been approved by the court as CRO last month, reported TheCryptoSight, at the same time that the court had granted an extension of time for the missing funds to be found.

Separately, EY has filed a request for an Asset Preservation Order to take effect on all assets in the Cotten estate and held by his spouse or others out of concern that “the corporate and personal boundaries between Quadriga and its founder Gerald Cotten were not formally maintained.”

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