Faruk Fatih Özer, the former CEO of the Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, has received a staggering prison sentence of 11,196 years from a Turkish court. This ruling is in connection to charges of "establishing, managing and becoming a member of an organization," " qualified fraud," and "money laundering."
Notably, Özer's two siblings also received the same prison sentence, totaling 11,196 years, 10 months, and 15 days, along with a fine of $5 million. The sentence was reported by Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency and marks a significant development in the case.
Thodex, once one of Turkey's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, experienced a sudden and tumultuous collapse in 2021. The exchange abruptly suspended its services without prior notice, leading to suspicions of fraudulent activities. Özer, the founder, subsequently fled the country with users' assets amounting to $2 billion in cryptocurrencies. At the time, Özer vehemently denied any allegations of an exit scam.
After evading authorities for some time, Özer was eventually apprehended in Albania in August 2022. Following his capture, he was extradited to Turkey in April 2023 to face charges related to fraud and money laundering. Özer has been in custody since July, initially for failing to file tax documents, and now for this latest conviction on defrauding a client.
In court, the cryptocurrency exchange founder maintained his innocence and claimed that he and his family were facing injustice. Özer argued that Thodex was simply a bankrupt cryptocurrency company and had no criminal intent. He suggested that the exchange's users had been victims for over two years .
This high-profile case against Thodex involves a total of 21 defendants, five of whom attended court hearings in person. Due to a lack of sufficient evidence, the court acquitted 16 of the defendants on "qualified fraud" charges and ordered the release of four defendants. The remaining defendants received various degrees of punishment based on their involvement in the alleged fraud.
