Bitcoin News and Finance Prosecutor Seeks Thousands of Years of Prison for Missing CEO of Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex Skip to main content

Prosecutor Seeks Thousands of Years of Prison for Missing CEO of Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex

Missing CEO of Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex Faces Life in Prison

Members of the team of the now defunct Turkish crypto exchange Thodex may receive thousands of years in prison, if the court backs the prosecutor’s plea in the case. The trading platform’s CEO has been missing for the past year since Thodex suspended activities in a suspected exit scam.

Turkey Seeks up to 40,000 Years Jail Time for Thodex Defendants

Faruk Fatih Ozer, founder and chief executive of the crypto exchange Thodex, and another 20 people involved in its operations, should each get up to 40,564 years of jail time, according to a Turkish prosecutor.

The indictment was quoted by Demiroren news agency and Hurriyet, about a year after the platform stopped trading. The defendants are accused of establishing a criminal organization, fraud, and laundering of proceeds from illicit activities.

The 28-year-old Ozer has been missing since last year and is still wanted on a red notice from Interpol, despite efforts by Turkish law enforcement to locate him in several countries. He was last seen on footage from Istanbul airport which emerged a year ago.

Thodex became popular during the latest crypto boom which attracted many Turks looking to protect their savings from the high inflation of their national fiat currency, the Turkish lira. The exchange, which had around 400,000 investors, suddenly went offline last spring.

According to local media reports at the time, Ozer fled to Albania with $2 billion of their money. In a statement issued from an unknown location in April 2021, he pledged to repay customers and return to his home country to face justice, Bloomberg notes in a report.

The Turkish indictment quotes losses of 356 million lira ($24 million). However, according to an estimate in a Chainalysis report published in January, the figure should be much higher — $2.6 billion. The blockchain forensics company claims:

We should note that roughly 90% of the total value lost to rug pulls in 2021 can be attributed to one fraudulent centralized exchange, Thodex, whose CEO disappeared soon after the exchange halted users’ ability to withdraw funds.

More than 60 people were detained and six jailed after Thodex collapsed. Turkish authorities launched fraud investigations against it and another Turkish trading platform, Vebitcoin, which also ceased operations after the central bank of Turkey prohibited the use of cryptocurrencies for payments. In October, another major Turkish exchange, Coinzo, also terminated its crypto trading services.

Do you think Turkey will succeed in its attempts to arrest and convict the founder of Thodex and his suspected accomplices? Tell us in the comments section below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Blogarama - Blog Directory