Sudden death of cryptocurrency exchange CEO locked out investors — but is he really dead…

When Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, QuadrigaCX, announced the death of its co-founder and CEO, Gerald Cotten, in January, condolences flooded in from around the world. The company said Cotten, 30, had been nine days into his honeymoon in India, where he planned to open an orphanage, when he collapsed due to complications of Crohn’s disease.

But soon the words of support and sympathy were replaced by panicked messages from investors: Where was their money?

As it turned out, only Cotten knew the passwords to the digital wallets where cryptocurrency was stored, meaning that more than 100,000 users were unable to access at least $145 million in assets, according to Bloomberg News. As months passed and the money failed to materialize, a conspiracy theory emerged: Cotten had faked his own death and disappeared.

Now attorneys for QuadrigaCX’s investors are asking that Cotten’s body be exhumed, so that they can settle the question of whether he is really…