Faruk Fatih Ozer, who ran crypto exchange Thodex until it imploded in 2021, was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison by a Turkish court for crimes including fraud.
The former CEO of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Özer, has been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison by a Turkish court for various crimes including fr@ud.
Delivering its verdict late Thursday, September 7, the court in Istanbul sentenced the 29-year-old and his two brothers, Serap and Guven, to the same jail terms, after finding them guilty of aggravated fr@ud, leading a criminal organization and money laundering.
Ozer was initially reported to have fled Turkey in April 2021 with $2 billion in investor assets, although that figure has since been disputed, AFP reports.
Prosecutors said Ozer had transferred 250 million liras in user assets (worth about $30 million at the time) to three secret accounts when he fled Turkey in April 2021, with much of the money ending up in a Malta bank.
The indictment said the Ozer brothers had caused 356 million liras of d@mage to clients in all.
He was arrested last year in Albania on an international arrest warrant from Interpol.
