Crypto fraud: perpetrator faces more than 11,000 years in prison

Back in April 2021, there was a rather high-profile scandal in Turkey. One of the country's largest stock exchanges, Thodex, simply stopped operating at some point, and CEO and founder Faruk Fatih Ozer suddenly disappeared.

The case lasted for a very long time, but finally came to a shocking conclusion.

The case had been going on for a very long time, but finally came to a shocking finale. For the group's CEO Faruk Ozer, who was caught after a brief and daring escape, a sentence has been handed down that stands out not only among Turkish, but also among the world's practices.

The former CEO who stole billions of dollars from users was actually sentenced to 11,196 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison following a trial that unequivocally determined his guilt. The sentence comes just 5 months after the former head of one of the most popular stock exchanges was extradited to Turkey.

This concludes a story that has thrilled tens of thousands of Turkish savers who entrusted their savings to cryptocurrencies, including to combat rampant local inflation.

Eternal Sentence

This is how the epic, actually very short, end for the exchange's CEO, who suddenly and unexpectedly left 400,000 users stranded.

In the immediate aftermath of the exchange's closure, Ozer fled to Albania, where he was arrested on an arrest warrant issued by Interpol.

What he was convicted of

The offenses committed under the Turkish Penal Code vary from establishing a criminal association.