The Albanian authorities handed over the founder and former CEO of the Thodex cryptocurrency exchange, Faruk Fatih Ozer, to Turkish law enforcement officers. This is reported by the Anadolu agency.
He has already been taken to Istanbul, where he was taken into custody. Earlier, the local prosecutor’s office charged the ex-head of the platform and 20 other defendants with the creation of a criminal organization, fraud and money laundering. Over 40,000 years in prison were requested for them.
According to the indictment, the damage from the activities of the exchange amounted to 356 million Turkish liras (~$24 million). Chainalysis analysts estimated this figure at $2.6 billion.
On April 20, 2021, Thodex unexpectedly stopped trading. Initially, the platform cited technical work, but then claimed to be transferring the business to a “major partner”, which would supposedly take 4-5 days. Users were concerned about the closure of social media accounts by the company.
As part of the investigation into the alleged exit scam, authorities issued arrest warrants for 78 people associated with the platform. Most of the suspects were arrested.
Ozer said he had no plans to go into hiding. However, according to Reuters, on the day Thodex stopped trading, he flew to Albania. The former CEO was detained by local authorities in August 2022.
Recall that in the spring of 2021, the Turkish Vebitcoin exchange stopped working, in respect of which an investigation began.
After these incidents, Türkiye has tightened the requirements for trading platforms for digital assets. Verification of users has become mandatory, as well as the need to inform the regulator about transactions worth more than 10,000 lira (~$1150).
Source: bitcoinlinux.com
