The two siblings of a Turkish cryptocurrency CEO who defrauded investors out of millions of dollars each received sentences totaling 11,196 years in prison.
Following the abrupt collapse of his Thodex exchange in 2021, Faruk Fatih Ozer, aged 29, escaped to Albania with investor funds. He was convicted of fraud, money laundering, and organized crime after being extradited to Turkey in June. State media quoted Ozer as saying that if his intent had been unlawful, he “would not have performed so amateurishly” in court. According to the Anadolu agency, he claimed, “I am intelligent enough to run any organization on Earth. This enterprise, which I founded at the age of 22, is proof of it.” In a swift trial held in Istanbul, his siblings Serap and Guven were likewise found guilty of the same offenses.
According to Turkish news reports, the defendant was handed separate sentences for various offenses committed against 2,027 victims, and these sentences collectively amounted to the overall number of years specified in the judgment. Since the death penalty was abolished in Turkey in 2004, such unusual prison sentences have become widespread. For fraud and sex offenses, TV cult preacher Adnan Oktar received an 8,658-year sentence in 2022. An equal punishment was given to ten individuals who were part of his supporters. According to AFP, the prosecution requested a sentence of 40,562 years in jail for Ozer. The steep decline in the value of the lira that began more than two years ago prompted Turks to start utilizing cryptocurrencies as a hedge. Thodex, one of the biggest virtual currency exchanges in the nation, was established in 2017.
As a financial whiz, Ozer rose to national prominence. He gained access to the establishment by befriending well-known government supporters. However, in April 2021, the platform abruptly collapsed, and Ozer went into hiding after investor assets vanished. Based on a global Interpol warrant, he was detained in Albania last year, and after a protracted legal process, he was extradited.
According to Turkish media, Ozer is said to have escaped with assets valued at $2 billion (£1.6 billion), but the prosecutor’s indictment suggests that the overall financial harm to Thodex investors is estimated at 356 million liras. At the time of the exchange’s collapse, that sum was worth approximately $43 million. The same sum is now equivalent to almost $13 million due to escalating inflation and the devaluation of the Turkish Lira on global markets.
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