According to the notice issued by Turkey's Ministry of Interior, "[Bledar Chuchi] conveyed to Süleyman Soylu that the fugitive Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder of Thodex, who was wanted with a red notice, was caught in Vlora, Albania, and his identity was confirmed by biometric results. "
Albania authorities apprehended Thodex CEO Faruk Fatih Özer after he escaped with $2B worth of users’ funds last year.
In April 2021, the Turkish crypto exchange went offline for a few days to evaluate a "partnership offer" that would help Thodex serve its users better. A few days later, a notice issued by Thodex claimed that the exchange's technical team had detected an "abnormal fluctuation in the company accounts," with the CEO, Faruk Fatih Özer, having left the nation to attend final meetings with foreign investors.
Faruk, however, soon went unresponsive, which incited Thodex users to file fraud complaints as they were unable to retrieve their funds.
Subsequently, Turkish authorities issued an arrest warrant against Özer on charges of committing fraud and founding a criminal organization. The Interpol soon issued a red notice against Özer.
Since then, Turkish authorities have arrested 68 individuals suspected of money laundering using an "exit scam." In May 2022, Thodex's official website claimed that a trial against 21 suspects, including Faruk and his siblings, had officially begun in Turkey.
On the morning of August 30, an official notice from Turkey's Ministry of Interior stated that Albania authorities had finally arrested Faruk, and biometric results were able to confirm his identity. Lastly, the report said,
"The extradition proceedings of Fatih Özer to Turkey were initiated by the Interpol Department of the General Directorate of Security."
We’re glad you read to this point!
Every week, we publish an email newsletter highlighting all the juicy stories we covered in the crypto space, bringing all the major happenings to your doorstep.
So, if you want to have top stories delivered to your email inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter!
