Following a trial against the recently arrested suspects connected to the infamous Thodex crypto exchange, a Turkish court has sent six people to jail. The brother and the sister of the company’s CEO, who reportedly escaped with $2 billion of users’ funds, were among them.
The $2 billion crypto scandal in Turkey has become one of the hottest topics in the country recently. According to authorities, the CEO of the local crypto exchange Thodex has allegedly scammed its users and fled the country with a sizeable portion of their funds.
The spokeswoman for Istanbul’s Anadolu prosecutor’s office informed that six people were sent to prison accused of being part of Thodex and its criminal affairs. Two of the suspects are the brother and the sister of Faruk Fatih Ozer – founder and Chief Executive Officer of the platform.
The aforementioned individuals are the first to be imprisoned as most of the detained in the previous weeks have been released. Furthermore, the officials have freed seven more suspects with judicial control measures.
On the other hand, the head of Thodex is still at large. Some rumors pointed that his hiding location might be Albania. The Interior Minister of Turkey Suleyman Soylu assured that the officials are putting great efforts in catching Ozer as they search for him in four different countries:
”When he is caught with the red notice, we have extradition arrangements with a large part of these countries. God willing he will be caught and he will be returned.” – he added.
Some media reports speculated that Faruk Ozer left Turkey with $2 billion but Soylu mentioned the portfolio of the company was no more than $150 million.
The Turkish authorities announced last week that they have arrested 62 people in connection to Thodex – the cryptocurrency exchange which was in the spotlight for its alleged frauds.
The notorious leader of the platform – Faruk Ozer – escaped Turkey and the authorities are on his tail. According to some reports, he promised to return and face justice. However, Ozer has not specified a precise date when he plans to do it.