Body of cryptocurrency exchange founder sentenced to 11 thousand years in Turkish prison
2 November 10:15
The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, Faruk Fatih Özer, who was convicted of fraud in Turkey, was found dead in a prison cell. This was reported by the Turkish edition of NTV, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Ozera’s body was found in a prison cell in Tekirdaz in western Turkey. According to the newspaper, the city’s General Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the incident. It is reported that the investigation is considering a version of suicide.
Lakes was extradited to Turkey from Albania and in September 2023 was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison on charges of creating a criminal association, money laundering, and fraud on a large scale. It is known that the founder of the crypto exchange was serving his sentence in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison. His body was sent for forensic examination.
In April 2021, the Turkish crypto exchange Thodex announced a temporary closure due to “abnormal account movements”. Turkish media reported that Faruk Fatih Özer had fled to Albania with $2 billion in investor funds. Pictures of Özer leaving the Istanbul airport were published on the Internet.
A lawsuit was filed against the head of Thodex, which states that the crypto exchange’s audience includes 400,000 people, 390,000 of whom are active customers. Ozer himself called the accusations unfounded on social media. He claimed that the suspension of operations was due to a cyberattack and that nothing happened to clients’ money. Ozer also promised that he would return to Turkey in a few days to settle all the issues.
