The founder and CEO of a Turkish crypto change that collapsed in 2021 has been arrested by Turkish authorities in Istanbul after being deported from Albania, the place he was captured final yr.
Faruk Fatih Ozer, who ran Thodex, a crypto buying and selling platform that shut down in 2021, leaving hundreds of buyers unable to entry their funds, was detained at Istanbul Airport on April 20 by Turkish regulation enforcement.
Ozer stole tens of millions from clients
Ozer has been accused of defrauding hundreds of buyers and laundering tens of millions of {dollars} via his platform, Thodex. The change’s CEO fled to Albania after Thodex halted operations, claiming that he would meet overseas buyers to safe funding for the change.
He additionally mentioned he would cooperate with Turkish authorities and return the cash to the purchasers. Nonetheless, Ozer later modified his story and mentioned he was a sufferer of a cyberattack that worn out a lot of the change’s property.
His disappearance sparked a felony investigation and a world manhunt, in addition to protests by indignant buyers who feared that they had misplaced their financial savings.
Thodex was certainly one of Turkey’s largest crypto exchanges, with over 400,000 customers and a day by day buying and selling quantity of round $585 million.
Ozer loses extradition battle
Ozer was detained in August 2021 in Albania’s capital, Tirana, the place he lived beneath a false id. He then fought a legal battle in opposition to his extradition to Turkey however misplaced his enchantment earlier this month.
Ozer arrived in Istanbul on Thursday and was taken into custody by the police. He faces prices of managing a felony group, aggravated fraud, and cash laundering. He might resist 75,000 years in jail if convicted.
The entire losses incurred by Thodex’s clients are nonetheless unclear, however some estimates counsel that they may very well be as excessive as $2.6 billion. Ozer’s arrest comes solely weeks after former Terra boss Do Kwon was caught in Podgorica, Serbia, after months on the run.
In accordance with an indictment unsealed on the U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan on March 23, Kwon faces a number of counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and commodities fraud.
