Thodex CEO Faces 11,000-Year Sentence in $2B Crypto Scandal
It's an ending that will make history books. Faruk Fatih Özer, the former CEO of the Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, is now looking at an astonishing 11,196 years behind bars.
This comes after he was found guilty of orchestrating a $2 billion scam that rocked the cryptocurrency world.
Thodex was once a significant player in the crypto trading space in Turkey. But in a twist that still haunts many, the platform went dark in 2021, leaving countless investors in the lurch.
To make matters more cinematic, Özer vanished with a cool $2 billion of users’ assets. Although he denied allegations of an exit scam, the evidence said otherwise.
Fast forward to August 2022, Özer found himself arrested in Albania, not exactly the hideaway he might have hoped for. His extradition to Türkiye came in April 2023, with charges related to fraud and money laundering.
Interestingly, even before this high-profile case's verdict, he was cooling his heels in jail over tax-related issues.
Özer's defense? In court, he portrayed himself as a misunderstood entrepreneur. Claiming that Thodex was merely a crypto business that met an unfortunate end, he stated: “If I were to establish a criminal organization, I would not act so amateurishly.”
His words might resonate with some, but the Turkish court thought otherwise. Alongside Özer, his two siblings also received identical sentences and a hefty $5 million fine.
Of the 21 defendants involved in this extensive case, 16 walked free due to a lack of incriminating evidence, while others received varied sentences based on their degree of participation in the scam.
In a world where cryptocurrency promises decentralization and transparency, the Thodex saga serves as a sobering reminder: always tread carefully.
