Former CEO Faruk Fatih Özer of the bankrupt Turkish crypto change Thodex has been given a record-breaking jail sentence for stealing $2 billion in buyer funds.
Crypto CEO Sentenced To 11,196 Years Prison Sentence
On Thursday, September 7, 2023, the previous CEO of Thodex, which was one of many largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Turkey, was reportedly sentenced to 11,196 years, 10 months, and 15 days in jail for a number of legal fees together with fraud, main a legal group, and cash laundering by the Anatolian ninth Heavy Penal Court.
The former CEO reportedly defrauded over 400,000 Turkish prospects of greater than $2 billion in deposits when the change went offline in April 2021, and Özer fled the nation instantly after the change went offline.
The prosecutors had initially requested a 40,562-year jail sentence for the previous crypto change CEO. However, the ultimate verdict noticed the sentence decreased to 11,196 years, the longest sentence thus far for a crypto crime. Furthermore, a judicial positive of 135 million Liras was additionally imposed on the previous CEO, based on native media.
Faruk Fatih Özer was not the one one concerned within the alleged crime. Following the investigation, 83 folks have been arrested and detained, and 4 different senior workers have been jailed.
When the case was completely investigated, Özer‘s sister Serap Özer, and brother Guven Özer, have been additionally discovered responsible of the identical fees and got the identical jail sentence respectively.
Although these jail phrases could seem outrageous and unfamiliar to many, they’re quite common in Turkey because of the nation’s dying sentence eradication since 2004. In 2022, TV cult preacher Adnan Oktar was convicted of fraud and sexual assault and was sentenced to eight,658 years in jail together with 10 of his followers.
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Former Thodex Boss Denies Criminal Claims
The 29-year-old former crypto boss was arrested in Albania in August 2022 the place he was serving jail phrases after fleeing Turkey in April 2021 when his crypto change first collapsed.
Before his arrest, Özer denied claims in opposition to him fleeing the nation deliberately when the Thodex change went darkish. His response to the allegations was that he was overseas due to enterprise conferences.
Özer was arrested after Interpol issued a purple discover in opposition to him, and was extradited again to Turkey in April 2023 to face the fees in opposition to him. He was then detained by the police upon arrival and held on seven fees.
Some of the fees included establishing and managing a corporation with the aim of committing against the law, fraud through the use of data programs as a device of banks or credit score establishments, being a member of a corporation, fraud of retailers or firm executives and cooperative managers, and laundering the worth of property ensuing from crime, amongst others.
The court docket believed that Özer had fraudulent intentions proper from the start and that the crypto change Thodex was a legal group from the beginning.
However, Özer denied these claims in opposition to him and mentioned Thodex was only a crypto firm that went bankrupt in 2021 and had no fraudulent intention. He additionally informed the court docket that he was very good and he wouldn’t have acted so amateurish if he was trying to be a legal.
Featured picture from CNBC, chart from Tradingview.com