Faruk Fatih Özer – the founder of crypto exchange Thodex – has been extradited to his home country, Turkey, where he faces charges of fraud and operating a criminal organization.
Thodex was one of the largest crypto exchanges in Turkey. It later turned out to be an exit scam, with Özer disappearing with $2.6 billion worth of crypto funds leaving around 400K users high and dry.
- According to the latest report by state media, the 27-year-old founder was detained by police upon arrival in Istanbul.
- Thodex halted all transactions citing an evaluation of an unspecified partnership offer in April 2021. While its official website assured users that it would be back up shortly, the executives started deactivating their social media profiles.
- The platform’s customer support group also became inaccessible soon thereafter. The founder and CEO Faruk Fatih Özer, also shut down his Twitter account and reportedly fled to Albania.
- Sources said that he managed to stay undercover for more than a year before law enforcement agents in the Elbasan finally detected his location and arrested him.
- Subsequently, Interpol also issued a Red Notice against Özer for his capture.
- A Turkish court jailed six people, including two siblings of the CEO, a month after the scandal. The rest four were senior employees of the company.
- The authorities had also detained 62 people associated with the Thodex exit scam.