Thodex Founder Finally Arrested In Turkey After 2 Years Of Hiding

Key Points:

• The former CEO of Thodex, Faruk Fatih Ozer, has been extradited from Albania to Turkey to face fraud and money laundering accusations.
• Thodex unexpectedly ceased operations roughly two years ago, causing tens of thousands of clients to suffer financial losses.
• Ozer had vanished when the platform collapsed but was apprehended in Albania in August 2022 after Turkey filed an Interpol red alert against him.

Two years after the site ceased operating, the creator of the Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex eventually returned home.

Faruk Fatih Ozer, the founder of Thodex, one of Turkey’s major cryptocurrency exchanges, has been extradited to Turkey and was held by police upon arriving in Istanbul, according to state media aa.com on Thursday.

According to the report, the jet carrying Ozer, whose extradition to Turkey was approved by Albania’s Durres Court of Appeals, took off from Tirana in the morning and arrived at Istanbul Airport around 10:15 a.m. Ozer was taken into arrest by the Istanbul Airport Police Department upon his arrival.

Ozer, who was transported to the police station, is likely to receive a medical examination before being transferred to the Istanbul Police Department’s campus.

Ozer’s debut in Turkey comes almost two years after the Thodex exchange unexpectedly suspended trading and withdrawals on April 22, 2021, after allegations of police searches at its headquarters. According to local media, the suspension was part of an exit fraud by Thodex CEO Ozer, who departed Turkey with at least $2 billion in cryptocurrencies stolen from Thodex.

As Coincu reported, Ozer was arrested in Albania in August of last year on an Interpol red alert. The worth of bitcoin lost at Thodex earlier this year was $2.6 billion, according to Chainalysis, making it the greatest “rug pull” of 2021.

The events surrounding Thodex caused a sensation in Turkey, where crypto is employed as an inflation hedge. At least 83 persons were arrested as part of the probe, including Ozer’s brother, sister, and four other top workers.

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Harold

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