At the end of the case, the court also imposed a judicial fine of 135 million lira (about 5 million dollars) on him.
The long arm of the law has finally caught Faruk Fatih Ozer, the founder of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, which collapsed two years ago. according to a local media reportsFaruk, his sister Serap Özer and his brother Güven Özer were all sentenced to 11,196 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison. At the end of the case, the court also imposed a judicial fine of 135 million lira (about 5 million dollars) on him.
Theodex Exchange: A sweet tale with a bitter end
Thodex was arguably one of the largest crypto exchanges in Turkey. Founded by Farooq in 2017, the exchange quickly rose to fame and had nearly 400,000 users within four years.
But Thodex’s quick success didn’t exactly come as a surprise. The main reason for this was the urgent need for Turkish people to use crypto as a hedge against inflation. And then there was a huge fall in the lira as well.
However, by April 2021 Exchange suddenly went offline, By this time, customers had deposited more than $2 billion in crypto assets on the platform.
Shortly afterwards, Faruk fled the country and remained in hiding in Albania until his capture in August 2022. This happened when Interpol issued a red notice against him.
In April 2023, Faruk Ozer arrived back in Turkey and prosecutors immediately instituted a seven-count charge against him. He was charged with establishing and managing an organization with intent to commit crime and laundering the proceeds of crime.
In the initial phase of the investigation, at least 83 people, including Farooq’s siblings and some top Thodex executives, were detained for questioning. However, there were only 21 defendants left by the final trial, who faced up to 40,564 years in prison.
However, now the Anatolian 9th Heavy Penal Court has issued its final verdict. The court acquitted 16 of the 21 defendants. And, remember that Farooq, his brother, sister and four top officials were jailed first. The court has now released four of them due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Maiowa is a crypto enthusiast/writer whose conversational character is quite evident in his writing style. He firmly believes in the potential of digital assets and uses every opportunity to reiterate this. He is also an avid reader, a researcher, an astute speaker and a budding entrepreneur. However, away from crypto, Maiowa’s fanciful distractions include discussions on football or world politics.
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