A Turkish court has sentenced Faruk Fatih Ozer, the former head of cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, along with his siblings Serap and Guven, to 11,196 years in prison each for their alleged involvement in a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded investors of millions of dollars.
The convictions come after Ozer’s escape to Albania in 2021, during which he fled with investor assets following the sudden collapse of the Thodex exchange.
Ozer, who was extradited back to Turkey in June, faced charges of money laundering, fraud, and organized crime.
During the trial in Istanbul, Ozer defended himself, stating that he would not have acted in such an “amateurish” manner if his intent were criminal.
He asserted his intelligence and claimed that his successful establishment of the company at the age of 22 demonstrated his capabilities.
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The court’s verdict, which also found Ozer’s siblings guilty of the same charges, included separate sentences for multiple crimes against 2,027 victims.
Such lengthy prison sentences are not uncommon in Turkey, following the abolition of the death penalty in 2004. In a recent case, TV cult preacher Adnan Oktar was sentenced to 8,658 years in prison in 2022 for fraud and sex crimes, with ten of his followers receiving the same sentence.
Prosecutors had initially sought a 40,562-year prison sentence for Ozer, as reported by AFP. Thodex, founded in 2017, became one of Turkey’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
Ozer gained prominence in the country’s financial sector and built connections with influential pro-government figures.
However, the exchange abruptly collapsed in April 2021, leading to the disappearance of investor assets and Ozer’s disappearance.
Ozer was apprehended in Albania on an international Interpol warrant and extradited to Turkey after a lengthy legal process.
While Turkish media previously reported that Ozer had fled with assets worth $2 billion, the prosecutor’s indictment estimated total losses to Thodex investors at 356 million Turkish liras, equivalent to approximately $43 million at the time of the exchange’s collapse.
Due to significant inflation and the depreciation of the lira in international markets, this amount has since decreased to approximately $13 million.
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